If I was a really cool blogger...

and big people wanted my opinion or take on fabric, it would look something like this.  These little bundles are popping up everywhere, and I can see why!  It was so much fun to put these fabrics together.  There is a contest going on over at Quokka Quilts to make a fat quarter bundle of your choice with fabrics from The Fat Quarter Shop.  I went with greens, blues, grays, and beige.  I like it!  I love cool soothing colors, but there are so many great bundles that have popped up I don't know how they will choose!

  

Also, voting has started for the bag make overs over at The Sewing Summit blog!  Head on over and vote for me...if you are so inclined! ;0)  

Looking Back- 2011!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  We still have toys scattered everywhere across the house, and we are taking things slow this week.  I am always impressed with people who can hop right back to "regular" life.  I am not one of those. ;0p  I  have a few things I finished this month that I still have yet to share, but I have been thinking a lot about this past year.  Jessica over at A Little Gray is hosting a "A Year in Sewing", and I thought I would get my post written before I get distracted! 

This year I  think my love of quilting and small patchwork definitely took over!  These are all the pillows, mug rugs, minis, and other small patchwork that I made this year!  My love for quilting has definitely grown this year, but I admit that I like quilting mostly on a small scale.  The basting and quilting of large quilts always makes my procrastinating nature kick in!

However, when going back through my Flickr I realized I actually completed 8 quilts!   Most of these were completed the first half of this year.

I definitely stretched my quilting skills more this year especially with joining in on the Kaleidoscope QA and the Summer Sampler QA.  These are the two at the top that I still have not finished.  Kaleidoscope blocks are tricky and stretchy and not friendly!  However, I am happy I stuck with it and finished them.  I also learned how to foundation paper piece through the Summer Sampler QA and loved it!  I really enjoyed making all of those blocks.  The bottom two are my Turning Twenty quilt for our bed and a block from my Fussy Cut Bee quilt.  My first goal of 2012 is finishing these four quilts!

Here are some of the bags, wallets, and pouches I made this year.  I love making bags, and I only wish my closet wasn't exploding already with all the bags I have made over the past few years or you would probably be seeing a lot more. ;0)

I also went through a clothing spree this spring.  I made a number of tops for myself and skirts and dresses for the girlies.  I conquered my fear of knits and fell in love with Lil Blue Boo's Pieced Tunic pattern.  I made four of them!   I am definitely not a seamstress though and have realized that I don't have much desire to make complicated and involved patterns. 

This year I participated in many, many swaps and two quilt-a-longs.  I got to be a part of Mug Rug Madness, and I hosted my first online "event", Finish It Up!  I even wrote a couple of tutorials.  I got to go to The Sewing Summit and meet lots of new sewing peeps.  My sewing has gone through a number of stages this year.  Over the summer I seriously felt a little bit too addicted to sewing, and it felt like an obsession.  This might sound silly to some, but I am sure some of you understand.  It didn't feel right.  However, getting pregnant definitely reversed that problem. ;0p  Now I feel the need to create a little schedule for myself so I can fit some more regular sewing in a bit more. 

I have a feeling 2012 will have a little less swapping, and I would really like to finish up the quilt tops I have going on, so I can start other quilts guilt free.  I am hoping to do a little more stash busting, and just try to make sure I am making things I love and not because I feel I have to!  My life is busy right now, and I want to make my sewing a fun, creative outlet.  

What about you?  Do you have big plans for the new year?  Do you feel the need for a change in your sewing habits or are you happy with where you are at?

-crunch time!-

I don't think I need say more than "stomach flu" for you all to understand what kind of week this has been.  Throw in some random colds and rashes, and I am very ready for something better to happen!  The week wasn't all bad though.  Sukie hosted a Secret Santa Swap over on Twitter, and I got my package the other day from Kate over at Needle and Spatula!  She really spoiled me.  The book is awesome!  I wanted to immediately go to my scrap bin and start putting something together.  She also made me a cute little needle book and zip pouch.  Plus, homemade caramels!  I never make candy, so I was super impressed!

It is getting down to crunch time for Christmas gifts.  I purposely did not put much on my list and thank goodness I didn't.  I cut out a couple of zip clutches yesterday to make to put in gift cards for teachers and the husband's secretary.  

The only big thing on my list is finishing this quilt.  I am showing this one off at the modern quilt guild meeting back in October.  I just need to add a couple of borders, and I would really like to get this sent off to it's rightful owners.  How is your list looking?  Are you ready?

Also, AnneMarie over at Gen X Quilters was kind enough to feature me today on her blog, so go check it out!  I got to meet her at The Sewing Summit, and as she said we bonded over our pregnancies.  She is super sweet, and it was fun to get to chat with her a bit!

-habitat challenge quilt complete!-

I finally finished my Habitat Challenge quilt a couple of weeks ago!  My little assistant tried to raise her arms high enough...

but alas, she was a wee bit too small.

So we hung it up on the fence.  If you haven't heard about the challenge, the modern quilt guilds were offered the challenge of taking a bundle of Habitat by Jay McCarroll and making something with them.  Our guild decided on small quilts.

I knew I wanted to cut it into small pieces. It is such busy fabric, and I also wanted something simple and modern.  I found Kate Conklin's pattern called Scattered Showers and knew it was perfect for what I wanted to do.  It was an easy little quilt and came together very quickly.  I could also see fussy cutting some of my Heather Ross little scraps and using them in this pattern. 

I kept the quilting simple and modern as well with some random straight line quilting in a slightly darker grey thread.

I used Kona ash for the background and then used Kona charcoal for both the back and the binding.

One quilt top turned quilt!  Five more quilt tops and/or completed blocks to turn into quilts!  Why do I always get burnt out after I finish the tops?

-hoodie!-

I finished Juliana's little hood earlier this week while laying sick on the couch!  It turned out so cute.  Juliana tried it on.  I told her she looked like a little elf, and she was sold.  She has worn it every day since.

The pattern by Bonita Patterns is mostly the crocodile stitch, a v stitch, and a half double crochet.  The crocodile stitch takes more time to complete, but definitely offers a unique effect.  I would certainly recommend the pattern.  She offers good instructions, and if you need even more visual help (like me), I found several tutorials for this specific stitch on Youtube.

I did make the mistake of taking the girls with me to pick out the  yarn for each of their hoods.  Juliana and I disagreed quite a bit about what color.  She preferred bright magenta pink with metallic sparkles.   I picked out a fun apple green. We compromised on the light pink.  Now Felicity watches me with great interest as I work on her blue one.

-crazy-

That is what life has felt like the past week or so.  So much happened, and then I got sick, so rottenly sick.  Pregnancy always seems to make me so much more susceptible to catching things no matter how much I wash my hands and how careful I am.  

- My husband and I decided to get each other a new camera for our anniversary. Our first DSLR!  I love it so much.  Our anniversary isn't until New Year's but there are always great deals this time of the year, so we got it a little early.  I have no idea what I am doing, but I am excited to learn!  If you have any photography tips, books, websites, etc...please share!

I have been playing around quite a bit with it though and taking lots of  picture of the kiddos.

Josiah

Juliana

Felicity

-We also received some sad news.  A friend from college passed away last week.  He had been in the ICU for 47 days and although we knew he was horribly ill, there was so much hope that he would pull through.  Thousands of people were praying for him.  Matt was a great guy.  He will be greatly missed.  May he rest in peace.

-Juliana got to be in our town's local parade through her Little Flowers Club.  She *loves* parades and was so excited.  She had a great time, but as we were driving home it was clear all of the waving and saying "Merry Christmas!" over and over had been a bigger responsibility than she anticipated. ;0p

-Somebody turned 32 last week (and it wasn't me!)  I found this recipe for a Chocolate Stout Cake, and it was amazing.  Perfect cake for the men in your life!  

- Late last week I got a call from my OB saying he wanted to refer us to a specialist because of different things that had shown up on the baby's ultrasound.  We knew about these things, but were told not to worry.  My OB was out of town at the time, so I really didn't worry too much.  However, when we got that call, I admit I felt scared.  We got to see the perinatologist the next day though.  He was very reassuring, and he thinks that everything has a good chance of turning out fine. I will be monitored more closely though, especially in the third trimester.  Please keep our little one in your prayers.

- We got our Christmas tree and finished off most of our decorating!

  I finished the table runner I started last week.  It is called the Simple Table Runner.  I had made it before, and I like the size and simplicity!

Instead of using ric rac though.  I used this cute little red pom pom trim in my stash.

Thanks for reading this rambling post!  Hope all your Christmas sewing is going well!!

-tote bag challenge!-

For The Sewing Summit we were given these awesome, HUGE bags full of swag.  They were just simple totes, but when we got home we were told that was on purpose.  They challenged us to remake our bags and make something unique as long as it was still a bag.  

 I went to my scrap basket and was going to do some "rainbowy" patchwork.  However, as I set my bag down I noticed the little 2.5" charm pack that had been part of our swag.  I had pulled it earlier for a different project, but I knew it was perfect for what I wanted to do!

So I embellished my bag with simple patchwork and a wonky star.  I backed the patchwork with some more canvas to make it extra sturdy since I knew a lot of stress would be put on the seams.  I wanted to use this bag for my more portable projects so I also cut the bag down and made it a little smaller by a few inches. 

 I decided to free motion stitch "Crafty Stuff" to add some more flair to the plain canvas.  I used some of the Aurifil thread that was also part of our swag! (Very serendipitous!)  It was a wool thread which I had no idea what to do with, but it was perfect for this use since it is a heavy, thick thread and makes the words stand out more.

I lined my bag with this fun starburst print.

For the back I just kept going with the patchwork.  I also took off the handles and replaced them with  these simple blue and pink patchwork ones!

I definitely enjoyed this challenge and now I have a fun project bag as well!  There is nothing like waiting until the last minute!  I have had this bag complete for almost a week and a half except for the handles.  The last day to enter was today, so I got my booty up to my machine and  finished it up! ;0)

We are having...

1. Quilt for Maddie, 2. serendipity1, 3. Finished if you're a girl quilt, 4. Far Far Away 2 Quilt, 5. 28 076, 6. Georgia's Quilt, 7. Twin baby quilts, 8. Zig Zag Rail Fence Quilt Pattern, 9. Molly Miceli, Just Growing in Sunkissed, 10. Busy Bees Quilt Block for Tacha, 11. strawberries & champagne baby quilt, 12. Quilting Divas block for Susan, 13. www.flickr.com/photos/25254510@N02/6356719683/14. Not available15. Not available16. Not available

a GIRL!  

I thought for sure we were going to have another little boy, but I guess God had other plans.  ;0)    Right now Josiah will remain our little prince.  

So now the planning begins!  I made this mosaic of girlie quilts, and I am excited to make a special quilt for this little one.  I am definitely feeling "stars" right now, and also some combination of pink and yellow.  I love this Daisy Cottage line and am definitely thinking these fabrics will somehow hop into her quilt.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have been working on this little hoodie for Juliana the past couple of weeks.  I tend to get an urge to crochet around this time of year.  It is so cozy to sit in a chair under a blanket and watch a movie.  I found this pattern from Bonita Patterns and fell in love with this pattern.  It uses the crocodile stitch which I had never done before.  It is definitely a more involved stitch, but thanks to Youtube I figured out after trying to figure it out on my own unsuccessfully.  I am hoping to finish this one up tonight and get started on one for Felicity.  

I can't believe that the Thanksgiving weekend is already coming to a close!  We had such a lovely Thanksgiving with family and lots of good food.  We switched our family and dining rooms, which was wayyyy more involved than I thought it would be, but I am super pleased with the new layout.  We went and saw the new Muppet movie.  About half way through the movie Juliana came over to me and whispered that it was the Muppets!  She had been insisting they were called the Muffins.  Glad I know what I am talking about. ;0p  Yesterday I got to spend some time with our modern quilt guild working on a little Christmas table runner.  It was so nice to sit, chat, and sew with no interruptions!  Today was spent at church and selling advent wreaths.  It was such a great four days, and I am so thankful for my sweet little family.  It is going to be hard to go back to "real" life again!  

Now I am moving on Christmas sewing.  I have had a number of completed projects, but I am finding it hard to get pictures and on the blog.  I am really going to try harder!  I have a runner and some pillows I am hoping to complete this week for Christmas.  Then I have my Christmas presents to finish up, but I am trying to limit those to just a few as to not stress myself out. ;0p  We will see how successful I am at that. hehe...

What are you making for Christmas?  Do you have big plans?  

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

-we have a four year old!-

Felicity turned four over the weekend!  She was so excited.  She has been counting down the days ever since Juliana was counting down the days to her birthday.  It has been a long wait, but finally she is four.  Now she is counting down to five. ;0) 

We had her birthday party the day before, and she has been looking at the pinatas at the grocery store for months picking out the "perfect" one.  She settled on a blue unicorn with pink and white hair.  She named it "Star Heart".  Poor Star Heart really got smashed to smithereens    

One of the things she has been asking for was a princess purse and a wallet.  Both of my girls are intrigued by how money works right now, and they like to pay the cashiers at store and get "change".  They think it is so awesome that they give them money, and then they get handed money back!

I didn't make the princess purse, but I had this awesome little mermaid/ castle Japanese fabric scrap that was the perfect size to make a wallet.  I used Keyka Lou's Zip Pocket Pouch pattern.  This is the tall version.  This size would work perfectly for a cell phone!

The only thing I did differently was to use a lightweight fusible fleece.  I like how it makes it soft but firm.  It was definitely a big hit with the recipient!

Keyka Lou is also offering all her patterns right now for $5 until November 27th!  All her patterns would make great Christmas gifts!

-little mini-

I finished a little mini to enter into Amylouwho's Mini Challenge!  I stitched these little girls over the summer when we were on vacation.  I knew I wanted to make a mini quilt with them to hang in my girls' room, and this challenge was the perfect motivation to finish this project up!  These two little girls come from an embroidery pattern by Cathy Gaubert.  I changed the little girl on the left a little bit to look a little more like Felicity.

I kept the quilting simple- just added some simple straight lines at an angle using some light pink thread.

I used a red Kona to outline the embroidery, but I am not super pleased with how "bold" it looks.  I don't know.  I guess, I didn't hate it enough to change it. haha.  

Here it is hanging up in the girl's room by their window seat.  The cute little hoop above it was made for me by Darci in The Scrappy Hoops Swap!

I feel like I have gotten out of my sewing funk over the past couple of weeks- finally!, and I have been working on lots of projects big and small!  So, I am hoping to pop on here a little more over the next week or so to show you all what I have been working on!  

-pillows-

 I am finally getting around to showing the finished pillow I made for The Pillow Talk Swap.  I had a really hard time getting a good angle for this pillow for some reason.  Every angle just looked slightly off to me...ah well.  My partner for this swap is definitely a fun, cheery type person, so I went with something bright and scrappy.  For these blocks I used this template that I found via Flickr.  I love making things from my scraps.  I love hunting through and finding fun little pieces of fabric that bring back memories from past projects.  This block was perfect as well for some of those odd shaped pieces I have held on to.

Overall, I was pleased with how the pillow turned out, but I think I wouldn't have used variegated thread for the quilting.  For some reason, it ended up looking just a bit sloppy to me.  This pillow isn't the biggest.  It only came out to about 16", but sometimes it is nice to have a smaller pillow- I hope!  I added some turquoise piping around the edges, which I liked for the "pop" factor.  

For the back I just did a simple envelope closure with bright sunburst fabric I have had in my stash for awhile.

Last week I also received my super awesome pillow from fionapoppy!  This pillow is full of fun, simple details that really just make it something special.  I love it!  Plus, now I have a pillow to go along with my Authentic quilt!  

  

I love how she added the little "Make Life Beautiful" quote into that one square.  

Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!  The temperature here has dropped twenty degrees, and I can finally say that fall is here!  Yay!

-we are ready!-

The kids' costumes are ready!  I have been dying to make the cape in the Oliver and S book, Little Things to Sew, and Halloween was the perfect excuse.  Luckily, Felicity really does like the story of Little Red Riding Hood and was easily sold on the idea.  I used some Kona Red for the outside and a pink gingham flannel for the inside.  I made the smaller size, and the whole thing went together very well.   

However, you can't have a Little Red without the Big Bad Wolf, can you?  I was just going to buy a wolf costume, but by the time I started looking the cheapest I could find was $40 (that was cute, anyway).  Call me cheap, but I didn't want to spend that much for something he would only wear once or twice.  So I found this idea on Martha Stewart.  Simple, easy- perfect!  I bought the little gray hoodie and some felt all for under $10.

It took me only an hour this afternoon to cut out the templates from the felt and glue them all on.  That is my kind of costume making.  I do think my favorite part is his claws. 

The only part I actually had to sew was his tail, which is made out of more felt.  I just attached it to the top of his pants with a big safety pin.

I tried to get a picture of Little Red and the Wolf together.  However, the Wolf was distracted by that basket full of yummy treats.  Then he dove right in and attacked!

His attempts were foiled!  Chocolate is not good for wolves.

We tried to convince Juliana to be Grandma, but she didn't go for it.  She wanted to be the beautiful Rapunzel, and I have to admit that if I was six I would want to be Rapunzel too.

All three munchkins together.  (I have no idea what Juliana's foot and twist thing is about.)

The Wolf spots those yummy candies once more!

Hope you all have a safe and wonderful Halloween!

Linking up to Amylouwho's Sew and Tell!