Elephants on Parade Pillow

Spring has arrived here in California and with it many allergies, plus add some sort of virus and a teething baby.  Well, I just haven't gotten out of the house much, but I have been productive in the sewing department.  

Remember this quilt block that I made for my bee quilt?  I loved this block so much.  I couldn't get it out of my head to make a pillow just like it, but I am laaaazzzyy.  So I decided to just use the quilt block I already made for the quilt for the pillow instead.  I added some thin borders of gray and a bit of the bright pink.  I love how the bright pink blends with the rest of the fabrics but really pops and catches your eye.  I then added a scrappy border and put some more elephants in the corners.  I wanted to use the gray for the binding but ran out of the medium gray I was using for the sashing, but luckily I had some Kona charcoal that worked really well.  Whew.  Didn't have to break the fabric fast. ;0)

For the quilting- I kept it simple.  I used a variegated yellow thread.  My machine has this triple stitch that I really like because it makes the stitching stand out more and kind of has a hand stitched look.  I used that for the center sashing and then outline stitched the center blocks and outer sashing.

For the back I used this Amy Butler Midwest Modern print, since it incorporated all the colors that I used for the front.

Just one more shot... just because...:0)

I am entering this one into Rachel's Pillow Party!

A Reversible Skirt

I have been wanting to make a reversible skirt for a long time. My girls wear skirts all the time, and they inevitably get dirty. Now you can just flip it around! I love making skirts too. They are the perfect use for those extra 1/2 or even 1/3 yds that I have laying around that don't necessarily go with anything else. I used my last bit of Flower Power for this side. I love that big bouquet of roses in the middle.

I added some little squares on this side and flipped part of it down and added some little yellow heart buttons for contrast.

For this side I just used a little blue flower print that I found at Joanns. I thought it was cute. I admit I think that Joanns is getting better with the quality of some of the fabrics that they carry.

Right now I am working on one for Felicity and hope to put together a little tutorial on how to do these because it really isn't too difficult. I like the weight of this skirt as well. The two layers gives it a nice heft.

We also painted out kitchen this weekend. Yay! Almost all of the rooms in our house are painted taupe, which is a nice color. I wanted something a little more cheery for the kitchen though. I love how it turned out!

French General Love

I made this table runner for our coffee table to protect it! The girls love to play, eat, draw, sit, you name it on this table. It is only a few months old but is already well dinged. I have always loved French General's Rouenneries line of fabric, but I wasn't sold on Rural Jardin when it came out until my mom showed me some prints that she bought. I was sold and bought a couple of charm packs to make this runner. Easy peasy. I tried to make it niiiiicccee and big to cover most of the table. I tried practicing my stippling. I have only stippled on little practice blocks, so this was my first "real" project.

This is the back, and you can see the quilting a little better. Now don't look too close please! I think I was starting to get the hang of it. It really was rather fun thanks to the new machine! I haven't washed it yet, and I am kind of scared too since I forgot to prewash the linen that I used for the back. Woops! I am sure juice will be promptly spilled upon it. ;0)

In other news I have extended the summer sale in the shop until Friday! Head on over for 20% off!

I also have been doing some fabric reorganizing and have some fabrics up in Flickr that are up for swap!

Catching Up...

Life is starting to get a sense of normalcy again, so we are slowly working our way back into a routine. When I was ordered to rest I actually got quite a bit of sewing done. Sewing is rest, right?! April and May are months of birthdays. I have had leftover scraps from this quilt that I didn't know what do with. I made the quilt for my sister-in-law and her husband when they got married last June. So after seeing this block and this pillow I knew what I wanted to do for her birthday. I made these two pillows to match the quilt. I love the zig zag one especially.

I took all these pictures the night before I was induced, so please excuse the lack of great pictures. I was a little distracted. ;0) Hexagons have been popping up everywhere lately. While I love the look of them, I am not the biggest fan of hand sewing and knew I wouldn't get too far. Ashley's idea of appliqueing them on was genius. Just remember to take the paper out before sewing! I took the paper out and then pressed them before sewing them on so they would retain their shape.

I also made a couple of Summerhouse Pillows from some scraps of Hunky Dory and Kona cotton in white and ash. I love this pattern and how simple it is. I have already used it a couple of times.

In other news...

I have reopened the shop! I have gotten some new patterns lately! So check it out!

Spring Top Week has started! Go check out Rae's blog and submit your votes! There were so many great tops. So glad I am not competing this year because the competition is tough!


Also Elsie Marley is hosting kids clothes week next week! The idea is to sew a little each day for your kids and see what you can get accomplished. I am hoping to get my act together and sew up a couple of Ice Cream dresses for the girls. I have some Nicey Jane fabric just waiting...

Make It and Love It has this super sweet t-shirt dress tutorial!

Have you seen Brown Paper Package's blog this month? She has posted so many different tutorials on how to make different dresses from just one pattern. Isn't that a great idea? This one is my personal favorite.

Last but not least...a picture of Josiah. I love the face he is making, and I love kissing those chubby cheeks. Thank you for coming out baby!

New Kitchen Curtains!

I finished our kitchen curtains or valances or what have you! Yay! I bought this fabric back in October when we moved in this house, and finally...project complete. I got this fabric from Fabric.com for some ridiculous cheap price like $2.50 a yard. It is really nice and heavy, and I really like all the different colors in the stripes. I originally wanted to make all our curtains. Psshh. It wasn't going to happen. I made these and a valance for the girls' room. Good enough. So I went on a curtain rampage both buying and sewing last week, and now five months later all our rooms have curtains. They really do make such a big difference for a room!

It is also incredibly difficult I found to take good pictures of curtains. I used Simplicity 4497 for these. They really are just simple long valances folded up every 18" inches or so to give the folded look. Very easy.

Also in the shop I have the three new Anna Maria Horner patterns! The ziz zag dress really is so pretty!

Summerhouse Pillows and an Artist

Summerhouse pillows. Aren't they pretty? I love patchwork. I love turning little bits of leftover pretty fabrics into something big and pretty.

The back. I love this bright, cheery fabric. I got this at Joann's. I must admit that I think Joann's is getting some better stuff as of late.

The pattern is by Alicia Paulson. It is quite easy, and she uses a different way of doing the patchwork using iron on interfacing. She has a tutorial for it here. I used blues and greens, and they fit perfectly over a couple of busted pillows I had that I have been too lazy to do anything with the past couple of months. I didn't put piping on my pillows because I didn't have any, and I just didn't want to go all the way across town for piping. I do want to make two more though...with piping. ;0p

Now this...this is my little artist. She draws all.day.long. She is particularly proud of this little pony. She asked me to take a picture and has so far shown it to everyone we have seen today who is willing to take a look. She draws in coloring books, on pieces of paper, on cards, while she eats, while she watches a movie, and even when she is outside.

This is one of her outside drawings. This is her Grams. She has just learned to draw faces. What is the blue line across the face that looks like Jordy from Star Trek? Grams' glasses, of course!