Mission Accomplished :)

My beautiful Sister in Law celebrated her birthday recently.

She asked me to make her a tote bag

 to hold her crochet-in-progress.

She picked out the fabric from my stash.

I paired it with brown and white polka dot canvas.

 I decided to surprise her and

make her a matching pouch

for her hooks and scissors and such.

You can read more about it HERE.

Unfortunately, I made the hook bag first 

and when it was time to make the big bag

I didn't have enough fabric left.

Don't you hate it when that happens?

Well, the shop that I bought it from no longer had any in stock

and I couldn't find any on Etsy or Ebay.

But you've gotta love the internet

because I found 2 yards from an online quilt shop

and Voila'......Mission Accomplished :)

Beautiful Springtime!

Today I tagged along with my Daughter

and Daughter in law as they took all 6 grandchildren

on a homeschool fieldtrip to the Flower Fields

in Carlsbad, CA.

I had to get up before the crack of dawn

for our 2 hour drive to Carlsbad.

But as you can see,

it was well worth it.

There were birds of all kinds

and even CHICKENS!!!

I'll admit it,

I have chicken envy.

Maybe one day I'll have a chicken or two.......

I'm in awe of God's handiwork!

The children learned about different kinds of flowers

and where they came from

and really enjoyed smelling the roses.

My Mom came along for the adventure as well :)

My 3 oldest grandsons,

Elijah, Caleb and David.

Little Miss Evie wanted to smell every single bloom :)

I love it when the little girls hold hands.

I can only image the fun they will have growing up

just 7 weeks apart in age :)

Miss Evie and Miss Sofie love love love their Oma :)

How cute is this?

Elijah, the oldest,

looking after his cousin Evie, the youngest.

Makes my Nana heart happy :)

Now it's "man time".

Just 4 cousins...hangin' out :)

Elijah, Caleb, David and Gabriel.

What a blessed day!

Sunshine and Simplicity

It's a beautiful day here in Southern California.

The high for the day is 75 degrees :)

It's a perfect day to sew something fun!

I grabbed the floral corduroy that I found

on clearance at Joann's a while back

and used Simplicity 1724 View D

to make these fun jumpers

for my beautiful granddaughters.

I used red and white polka dot cotton

for the facings and covered buttons on one 

and the other one in bright pink and white polka dots.

I love little girls in corduroy jumpers.

It's just so classically cute :)

I can't wait to see the

girls in their new outfits!

A New Tradition :)

Every year for Christmas 

for as long as I can remember

someone buys a jigsaw puzzle for my Mom.

We all check with each other 

to make sure that someone has it covered.

It has to be difficult and at least 5000 pcs.

It's a given,

we all know it.

It's a tradition.

She always lets us know 

when she has it completed.

This year at Christmas I was thinking to myself,

that my favorite Christmas gifts

since I was a child 

were the ones that I could "make".

I'd start on Christmas day

and get right to work :)

And I thought that I would start my own tradition.

I was going to start a cross stitch project

on Dec 25th each year.

Imagine my delight when I rec'd THREE

new charts this year!

I hadn't mentioned my plans to anyone!!!

So this is the one I chose to start my new tradition.

It's called "Magic Garden Samler" by Shakespeare's Peddler.

I finished it last night

so it took me 18 evenings of stitching.

Actually a bit less because there were a few nights

that I didn't get to stitch.

I changed out the colors a bit.

I just couldn't stitch a pale purple watermelon,

or a pink snail or purple carrot.

I'm going to make this into a pillow for my living room sofa.

Do you have any crafty Christmas traditions?

2013 Here we come!

Boy, New Year's Eve has changed a LOT for me over the years.

I used to be quite the party animal.

Dancing the night away with friends and family.

But these days with small children in the family

the late night Pictionary, Cranium, dancing and laughing

will have to wait until the babies are a bit older.

No one wants to wake them up 

just to put them into their car seats 

on a cold winter night.

So this year the hubs and I 

will quietly spend the evening 

enjoying each other's company 

with him playing his new "old school" Zelda

and me stitching my new chart I received for Christmas.

We'll welcome the New Year with a hug and kiss

and then off to bed for a good night's sleep.

(That is IF we even make it to midnight...ha!)

I wish you all a blessed and healthy, 

Happy New Year!

I just wanted to share a couple of projects 

that I couldn't show you until now.

Here are two ornaments that I stitched for friends.

I used chenille around the heart 

and it's the first time I've done that.

I really love the look!

I also made these two little clutch bags

from a pattern found in

"Bags - the Modern Classics" by Sue Kim.

I highly recommend this book

if you like purses and bags.

Full sized patterns are included

and the instructions are easy to follow.

I used Minnie Mouse fabric for the lining

because the recipients are Minnie fans :)

I used some vintage buttons from my Mom's

vast stash of awesome old buttons.

And last but not least,

I wanted to share my tree top Angel with you.

I stitched her over 30 years ago 

and she is still watching over our tree each year.

One of the things I love most about hand crafted

items is that they will be here long after I am gone.

Kinda nice to think that she will still be smiling

and watching over my loved ones for years to come :)

My Heart is Full :)

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

I hope you are all enjoying time with your family and loved ones.

I finished the dolls for the girls at 2:30 yesterday

and we exchange gifts at 6:00pm.

Talk about last minute.....

You can find the pattern at OhSewDollin.etsy.com

The girls loved their new dollies

and the doll beds I made them :) 

The boys were big fans of the Super Hero masks 

they received from us.

This is my new favorite photo!

It will be printed into an 8 x 10 somewhere in my living room.

Isn't it the best???? 

And these are my wonderful children :)

I have soooo many great photos from last night.

Too many to share here.

It was hands down the best Christmas Eve so far.

Lots of laughter and even dancing!!!

The only down side was that my nephew has pneumonia

and my sister-in-law stayed at home to be with him.

Otherwise it would have been perfection.

Sweet Treats

I thought a few donut pincushions would be a fun 

addition to my boutique this coming Sunday.

I found the donut pattern a while ago

 in "Quilts and More" magazine Winter 2010.

They are made from wool felt 

with beads added for the "sprinkles".

I found these treat boxes at Michaels

that are the perfect size!

I mean seriously....

how cute is that?

I'm sure I'll have some left

for my etsy shop :)

And talking about sweet treats,

one of my little granddaughters 

was wearing her new Nana outfit yesterday!

How sweet is that????

I just couldn't wait......

These are supposed to be for Christmas,

but clearly this -----> Nana can't wait.

I'm going to give them to the girls today.

(they don't know that Christmas is still weeks away, right?)

I found these darling long sleeved onesies

at Old Navy.

How could I not buy them?

Yes, they are green,

(not my first choice)

but it was the only color they came in.

And yes, the lettering is a strange salmon-y pink.

(not the easiest color to match)

BUT......

as I was going through my stash of fabrics

I came across some Denise Schmidt fabric

with the EXACT same pink and green!!!!

Who knew that 

 when I squirreled away those fabrics

that one day 

they would be the perfect match????

AND......

I actually bought those DS fabrics 

at Joann's in the clearance section?

Win Win...right?

Happy Election Day!

Elijah - the birthday boy :)

Elijah - "Mom.....I think YOU should be the President......

Nana can watch us."

I love this boy!

Hope you all got a chance to go out and vote!!!

For my Junior Artist :)

A while back I showed you the fabric

that I had made at Spoonflower 

from a drawing that my oldest grandson made.

Well today is his birthday 

and I wanted to give him an art caddy 

so that he could create some more special things.

I had a remnant of Lightning McQueen fabric

that I knew would come in handy one day.

Well yesterday Cherise from Sewingly Along

and I had a play date :)

(why should children have all the fun?????)

We spent the evening cross stitching and chatting.

But before that, we decided to check out  

the new Hobby Lobby in Huntington Beach.

Holy Cow that place is HUGE!

 Cherise found the cutest gingerbread couple

salt & pepper shakers (at 50% off) 

who doesn't love a great deal????

and I bought some colored pencils,

 a drawing pad, a pencil sharpener and a gum eraser.

I used Peltex to give the caddy some strength

 and I used clear vinyl and  velcro to make a flap

 to keep the pencils in place.

The drawing pad slides into a sleeve that I made

to keep it in place as well.

I made a zippered pouch on the front 

to hold the eraser and sharpener.

The birthday boy is spending the day today

 with his parents and siblings at Disneyland. 

He won't get this until tomorrow.

Hope he likes it :)

Pees and Carrets

Don't forget to check out 

the Handcrafted Holiday Sew & Stitch Along!

AND...one of our lovely HHSSA sponsors,

 SistersandQuilters.blogspot.com

is hosting a seperate giveaway on their blog 

for more charm packs!

Hop on over and leave them a comment to enter :)

Being a Nana to 6 awesome little people,

I am constantly amazed by their

skills and abilities.

They are all so wonderful

and different at the same time.

The Sunday before last,

my oldest grandson Elijah

showed me a drawing he made.

I asked him if I could have it and he said yes :)

I quickly scanned it and went online to 

Spoonflower.com to have it made into fabric.

If you've never been to Spoonflower,

you have to check it out.

You can design your own fabric (super easy)

as well as purchase designs made by others.

Pretty stinkin cool,

but not cheap.

It's $18.00 a yard (the most I've ever paid for fabric)

 but for special projects it's totally worth it!

I had visions in my head of new grocery bags

as soon as I saw his drawings.

When I opened the package from Spoonflower,

I'm pretty sure I squealed out loud

because the dog looked a bit startled :)

I couldn't wait to start sewing!!!

I used green canvas for the bottom of the bag

and green polka dots for the lining and handles.

I used my all time favorite grocery bag pattern

by Michelle patterns.

I have several of these that I use every week

and people always ask me about  where I got them.

I love using them and I love sewing them.

Totally an FTS pattern!!!

These make great gifts too :)

Here is Elijah's original artwork.

I love everything about it.

I love his spelling.

I love his eraser marks.

I love his little arrows.

I just love love love it.

I know that I will be the envy of everyone at Sprouts!!!

I ordered another yard of fabric

using this artwork but I made the graphics smaller

and staggered the layout.

I should have it next week and I'm thinking  new placemats :)

I can't wait for my fabric to arrive.

Now that I know how easy it is to have fabric printed

I'll be watching out for more masterpieces from the grands

to use in projects for my home.

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!

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!