Sunday, September 30, 2012

Leafs Me Happy Blog Hop


You may have seen this button on my sidebar,
well its time to tell you all about it!
I've joined the Leafs Me Happy Blog Hop
that begins Oct.1st!
We will be making fall themed blocks.
Below is a list of all the talented bloggers
who will be posting on Oct 1st.
The theme is "fall".
You know how I love fall!!!
I can't show you what I've been working on
until it's my day to post.
So make sure you come back 
on Wednesday October 10th 
to see my blocks and also for a giveaway!
In the meantime,
hop on over to the blogs listed below
on Monday morning
and be amazed by the talent!!!!


Day 1
Pam Pereiraon That Other Blog




Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Home is where your family is :)


It feels so good to have another project finished!
You may remember that back in January
I joined the Tiny Houses from Scraps QAL.
The idea was to make 365 tiny houses from scraps

by hand, 

one each day.

Clearly that didn't happen.

I made 12.......

actually 14 but the first 2 were beyond wonky
so they didn't stand a chance of being on my quilt.

One night while I was trying to sleep
the idea for this design came to me.
I used one little house for each month of the year
and embroidered the names of each family member
and their birthdays in each month.

I couldn't resist using Christmas fabric for the December house :)
I used perle cotton floss to hand quilt around the blocks and 
I made hearts in each of the 4 corners.
I appliqued "Home" and "Family" using a blanket stitch 
around each letter
and giant red rick rack to frame it out.
(I'll admit I have a slight obsession with rick rack)

I backed it in soft yellow Kona 
because it's going to hang on the wall
and I didn't see the point in a snazzy backing.
Now that it's done
I'm trying to decide if I want to paint my living room walls
before I hang this above the couch..........

I'm sure my hubby will be THRILLED 
to hear about my plans!


Monday, September 24, 2012

Monsterously Cute


The Tooth Fairy Monster Pillow is complete!
Isn't he adorable?
I'm going to let the boys give him a name.
My oldest grandson, Elijah has lost a few teeth already,
and the second oldest, Caleb has
a "wiggler" right in front.
This fun pillow will arrive
just in time for that one :)
(Papa offered to help him remove it
with pliers, but oddly enough Caleb declined)

I'm always so excited to find
awesome free tutorials online
from super talented people!
I found this tutorial by Suzanne over at
If you've never seen her blog 
you really NEED to!
She's super talented
and obviously very generous to share this tute with us :)


Also just a quick note:
If you haven't already figured it out,
I loves me some free tutorials.
So as part of the upcoming 
I will also be giving out prizes randomly each week
to those of you who share free tutorials
that you have either found online, or wrote yourselves.
I'm so excited to share all the cool info
and all the wonderful sponsors......

but I'll be patient a few more days!
Are you already planning what you'll be working on?
Remember that this will be open
to Sewing, quilting, crochet and cross stitch
so grab the button and tell your friends!
The fun starts Oct. 1st :)

Saturday, September 22, 2012

FNSI results


I have to be honest......
This month's Friday Night "Sew" In
was more like a Friday Night 
"Choose Your Fabric,
Cut it out and Fuse it " In :)

I'm working on this adorable tooth pillow
for my grands
and it took me f o r e v e r
to decide on the fabrics.
I finally made my selections
and cut the pieces, fused them
 and started the hand stitching.
(that counts for sewing right?)
But that's pretty much all I got done.
Hopefully by Monday I'll have it completed
and I'll share the link to the free tutorial as well.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Autumn Blessings


Can you tell I'm in an "Autumn" mood?
I just finished these two little charts
and quickly made little pillows
to display in my living room.
My son is already giving me a hard time about
all the tiny pillows I have on my curio cabinet.
I explained to him that I will change them out with each season.
Makes sense right?
Boys....what do they know?

This is Autumn Blessings by Plum Street Samplers.
It's a free download and you can find it HERE.
I fell in love with it immediately :)
She's got other darling freebies on her sight as well!
( I love me some free stuff )

This is "Just a Little Autumn" by Sandra Dering.
It's also a free chart, but I just can't find the link back :(

And since I was out driving around running errands,
I just happened to drive right past 
one of my favorite thrift stores.
They always have a great selection of unused patterns.
I mean I was right there....
it would be foolish not to go inside....right?

I got 4 Halloween costume patterns,
4 doll clothes patterns,
and 4 childrens jammies in different sizes.
I love to make new jammies for the grands for Christmas :)
Who doesn't love snuggly new flannel jammies????
Now all I have to do is wait for Joann's to 
put their flannel on sale for $1.99 a yard 
and I'm good to go!!!


Thursday, September 20, 2012

Little Mommas


I finished the doll beds for my little Mommas, Sofie and Evie :)
They are both just getting to the age where they
are lovin' baby dolls!

The doll in the photo is Louisa, one of my Kathe Kruse dolls.
She was given to me by my grandparents for my 10th birthday.
She has traveled to Europe and back with me :)
I love my granddaughters with all my heart
 but Louisa and her little sister Lisel,
will NOT be played with.......
not just yet anyways :)

For these doll beds I used Butterick 6661 from 1984.
It's a pattern I used for my daughter when she was a little girl.
You can still find it on ebay.


I used fusible fleece to strengthen the outside fabric
and craft bond to strengthen the lining fabric.
It made the sides "stand" better.


I also made little patchwork quilts for the inside
out of some of the girlie flannel remnants I continue
to buy and hoard :)



Now that these are done,
it's time to start on the babies that will sleep
in these beds.
I found a darling pattern on etsy 
and I can't wait to get started!


Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Table for Two :)


A few weeks ago I made a fun reversible apron
for a new bride-to-be.
Now the wedding day is almost here
and I thought it would be fun to make 
matching placemats for their kitchen.

Now that I look at them
I want a pair of fun placemats for the hubs and me.........
but that's a project for another day.

I had fun making these.
I used a blanket stitch around the hearts 
and machine stitched around the lettering.

I hope they like them  :)


Tuesday, September 18, 2012

IHSW results :)

"Just a Little Autumn" by Sandra Dering stitched on 18ct Aida and
I'm just starting on "Autumn Blessings" by Plum Street Samplers.

I have to admit, 
I've been so focused on Christmas 
that I almost missed the fact that fall is favorite time of year!
So this weekend I stitched some Autumn themed
charts to get into the fall spirit :)
The weather here has been over 100 degrees
this past week and that is definitely
NOT much like fall weather,
but I'm determined to pretend it's fall!
This week I'll be baking pumpkin muffins 
and busting out my pumpkin scented candles :)


Thursday, September 13, 2012

A Finish and A WIP

"Son of Chickens" by Prarie Moon stitched on 30 ct Lugana.

I finally finished my lovely rooster.
I have to say that I love love love him!
He's going to become a pillow for my sofa.
I'm certainly NOT in any hurry to stitch 
on black again any time soon.
It's so difficult to see what you are doing
even with my Ott Lite.
But I'm glad he's done and I love the black background :)


Now on to the WIP.....
Back in 1985 (wholly cakeballs I'm old!) 
 I made a doll carrier for my daughter
to schlep her cabbage patch dolls around in.
I'm so glad I kept the pattern all these years!

I'm only 1/2 done with this one 
and I'm making a tiny quilt for it,
 doing the hand quilting at night while the hubs watches TV.
I still need the cardboard for the bag bottom
but luckily for me, the hubs has that covered.
He installed a water heater the other day 
and bringing the box home for me :)

Having 2 granddaughters has brought back so 
many wonderful memories to me.
My daughter and her cousin are 1 year and 1 day apart
and I would sew for the both of them all the time.
They had matching outfits and so did their dolls :)
Now I have Sofie and Evie to sew for 
and I'm SO enjoying it!
Since they both walking now
and both recently learned to say "baby"
it seems like they will be ready
 to have doll carriers for Christmas :)
I can't wait to finish them both up!
The second one is cut and ready to start sewing.
This one should be done in another day or so.

Once these are done,
I'll have to get started on making the dolls :)
I found the cutest pattern on etsy.
Can't wait to show you!

Happy sewing everyone!!!


Monday, September 10, 2012

It was all about the fabric......


A week ago my sweet friend Cherise sent me an email
telling me about the coupon code that Spoonflower
had offered for a free fat quarter of fabric.
(I have the most awesome friends!!!)
So I hurried over there and ordered this super fun fabric
with the old school tattoo style print!
When it arrived I knew I had to make something
for myself, but I wasn't sure just what to make.
on Sept 22nd,  (if you're in the area, you should join us!)
I thought it would be nice to have 
a zipper bag to carry my rotary cutter and scissors in.
I used Simplicity 9949 view I.
I made it 2" wider to accommodate the length of my scissors.
I have to say that this pattern
 was definitely NOT FTS (fun to sew)
I seriously wanted to cut this bag to pieces
 and throw it in my scrap bin......

But the adorable fabric saved it.
Sometimes it's all about the fabric :)
So I persevered.

It took me most of the day to make this one little bag.
I ended up spending WAY too much time
 with my seam ripper *ugh*
And I ended up finishing the binding by hand.


The one good thing that happened was the 2 end pieces
looked like I fussy cut them,
when in fact it was just a happy accident
that the print lined up perfectly on both sides!


So now I have a fun little bag that will be put to good use,
and I know to NEVER use that bag pattern again :)
Have you ever used a pattern that you hated?

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Getting a head start :)


I'm getting so excited about all the great prizes 
that are coming together for the
So many awesome sponsors!
I can't wait to tell you guys about it all.
But.....
you'll have to wait a bit longer.
Are you telling your friends about it?
Remember, the more the merrier!

In the meantime I got a head start on my Christmas gift sewing.
I made this caddy using this fantastic free tutorial:
Sewing Caddy Tutorial by GinaBean Handmade 
I've used this tutorial once before and you can see it here.
This set is for my mom.
(luckily she doesn't have a computer :)
Mine is red (shocker I know) and I use it everyday 
to hold my cross stitch supplies.



I also made a matching pincushion and thread catcher.
You can find the free tutorial :
Weighted Pincushion Organizer by Sew, Mama, Sew

I received one of these very cool sets from my dear friend Denise
for my birthday this year and I love love love it!!!


I just love all the wonderful tutorials that can be found online.
Keep your eye out for some fun tutes to share
during our Sew & Stitch Along in October.
You'll have a chance to win an additional
prize each week by sharing online tutorials,
but I'll have all those details coming soon!
In the meantime,
tell me what you are planning of making as gifts.
I'd love to hear from you!






Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Blog Hop Winners are.........


First I'd like to say "THANK YOU" to everyone
who played along!
I was overwhelmed by the response!!!
It was so much fun to read about 
what the "bers" mean to you all :)
I've had some issues with my computer 
and not all the comments
have made it through to my email.
They are all here on my blog,
but I couldn't respond to you.
So if you didn't hear back from me,
I'm so sorry.

And you may be wondering why my blog post 
says "winners" and not "winner".
Well that's because I've decided 
that since I now have over 700 followers (what the heck?)
that I wanted to choose a second winner
who will also receive a fun giftie from me :)

And now for the winner of the blog hop.....
drum-roll please:


Marsha Cooper
who wrote:
"the first BER's are fall, which I love.
The last one you have to love for the celebration of Christmas."


And the winner of the surprise package from me is:

jmniffer
who wrote:
"I like the bers for football. I get some great crafting time in while watching/listening to the games. Thanks for the chance at your giveaway."

If you ladies would kindly email me with your names & addresses
I will ship your goodies out to you.
Congrats!!!



Saturday, September 1, 2012

Let the fun begin!!!

Well it's finally here!
The first official day of the "bers" :)
Only 16 Saturdays left until Christmas!!!
Are you working on Christmas gifties yet?
Those of you who have been reading my blog
for a while know that I hate to pay full price.
So I have some great news to share!
Purses and totes make wonderful gifts,
so you might want to check out Michelle Patterns.
Just click the link on my right hand sidebar.
She's having a sale this weekend for 20% off using
coupon code "laborday" at checkout.
I've made several of her bags 
and her patterns are totally FTS (fun to sew)
You can see them HEREHERE, HERE, and HERE
I'll be making some more very soon :)

Now on to my work in progress.
I have the 12 months blocks hand quilted
in red perle cotton.
Now I have to decide how I want to quilt the rest of it.
Decisions, decisions..... 
I also started cutting some of my scrap fabrics into 2 1/2" squares
so that I can make some Great Granny Square blocks.
I've seen them all over the internet 
and I know I'm a little late to be jumping on that train,
 but I'm smitten now 
and I really want to give them a whirl :)
(I blame Pinterest)


I've also done a bit more stitching on my rooster. 
He's not as far along as I would like,
but I've been hand quilting at night
instead of cross stitching.
 
I hope you all find some time in this long holiday weekend
for some crafty goodness!