A finished product

Every year I end up making a quilt for someone in the family for Christmas. 

I like to start early as possible so I won't stress at the end. 

I had Kirsti this year. 

I picked out her fabric & pattern 2 years ago. 

I cut & started it February 2012. 

Life happens. 

Come November, I had gotten no farther. 

I had to stress. 

But I love it!

(pic isn't great)

I wish I would have taken a picture of the back. 

It's my all time favorite fabric. 

$3.69 skirt

Old Navy had some great clearance this week!

I saw this super cute skirt for $3.69. That's right, only 3 bucks.

Who can pass up a cute skirt for that?

The only down side was the front slit up the wahzoo.

But I had some t shirts lying around to help me out on that.

Cut some strips, made some ruffles & voila!

A cute modest jean skirt.

Just had to share.

It's waiting for you Drea

I had a hard time with this one. I bought the fabric well over a year ago.

But every time I got it out, I couldn't figure out what to do with it.

I wanted it to be special cause it's for my besty.

So I really hope she likes it.

Need Your Opinion

So I made this quilt for a Christmas gift.

I was going for funky, but not so sure about how it turned out.

Since I've been feeling a little sensitive lately, could you give me your opinion?

If you don't like it, could you be nice? Just need some reassurance.

Isn't she lovely?

I would like to introduce you all to Gertrude.

She's a beauty.

My last machine has not yet made it home from the doctors.

They say the outlook isn't so good. I had bought that machine for $140.

It will cost me at least $125 to have it fixed. I can't stand that kind of math.

It has been several times we have taken machines into the shop

only to pay them more than what we paid for the machine.

They say the machines I get aren't quite meant for all the work I put them through.

For the last year or so, Jared has said we will buy me a nice machine

so we don't have these issues anymore.

What's a nice machine you ask?

Bernina (drool) Pfaff Janome Baby Lock

These names make me dream. Dreams that cost well over $1000.

Or the quilting machines I play with every year at the State Fair.

$8000. That dream ain't ever coming true.

Unless of course we own a house, have 2 decent cars, my children's education,

missions, & weddings are paid for. Oh, & a nice retirement account.

Like I said nuh-ever.

So I was in Meissner's the other day (which I never do cause they're pricey)

looking for something specific.

I glanced super quick at the machines as I had 3 kids

that know how horribly boring fabric shopping is.

Dennis walks up to me & asks what I'm looking for.

"Oh just some fabric & to drool over your machines."

"What kind of sewing do you do?" he asks me.

"I like to quilt" I say

"Well here is the best machine for that" he says pointing to a GORGEOUS

machine that had a price tag of $2300.

I laugh at him & say, "that would be waaaaay out of my price range."

He gets a thoughtful look & says come follow me.

I protest saying I have 3 kids that will soon destroy his nice store

when he shows me HER.

"She was just brought in after 3 months of use. The owner was trying to make heavy bags with it & didn't work out for her.

She returned it for something different. Half price."

Wowser. I sat in front of her & started to play.

So did my kids but with different thousand dollar machines.

I tell Dennis I should go, but asked how long did he think it would take to sell her?

He looks at me, then at my kids & says, "I'll put it on hold for you."

I mention this story to Jared & he said go get it. What?

We can't afford that. It's $795.

Nope, go get it he says again. I'm not buying you another cheap piece of crap.

So I spend all evening thinking about it. Of course I want it.

But I'm usually pretty good at suppressing my wants.

All in all, I went back the next day with no kids, sat in front of Gertrude,

& played, discovered things that I never knew sewing machines could do.

Do you know what a knee lift is?

I now do. Super cool. Anyways, this is getting too long.

I have a year warranty of parts & labor & some free classes.

And an extra $800 on our credit card. I only feel a little bit guilty about that part.

Oh, & a husband I need to give some extra lovin to.

Here are her qualifications.

This is her first project I got to finish.

It was like spreading room temperature butter on tasty toast.

Now on to a few baby quilts & to start some Christmas presents.

Below is record of our garden at the end of it's season. It's been great.

From bleh to refreshing

I have a wonderful SIL who gives us her hand me downs.

They are not just any old scrubs for kids,

but nice, name brand, well taken care of clothes.

Boys & girls. Not a stain in sight.

We were talking about what I could do for her in return

of the bags & boxes of nice kids clothes

when I pulled out my 4th of July quilt for the fireworks display.

She says, "I'd love a patriotic quilt."

Woo Hoo. How I love to make blankets.

I've been on a hiatus from sewing due to morning sickness.

But I was ready to get back to work.

I start searching for a red white & blue quilt pattern when I found this:

pattern

It's gorgeous. I went out & got fabric super fast. Too fast.

This is the top I ended up with. (below)

I don't like it. So disappointed.

The red white & blue that I chose for some of the star backgrounds

are just yucky. I should have spent my usual hour deciding on what to use.

Unloading everything from the shelves & making a mess.

Since I'm not known for my perfectionism,

when Jared asked if I was gonna take it apart & change it, I laughed.

Nope, I said. I'll fold it up unfinished & put it in the closet.

Something else is already in mind for my SIL. Much better fabrics.

Feeling frustrated about that star quilt.

I started on another for a friend (above) who said she liked "oceany" colors.

These are my pieces so far.

The dark border & outside are not so visible in the pic.

But I am LOVING THESE COLORS!!

A refreshing change. Now just to put it together & quilt it!

Blankies blankies blankies

I've been working on some blankets for our

Baby Bundle project coming up in April.

It's been fun to dig out what I've got.

The picture below is me attempting to purge my fabric collection.

This was before Joann had a great sale on Snuggle Flannel.

I was a little dishonest. I would get fabric that had hardly any on the board.

Ask for a tiny bit, then get the remnant for an extra %50 off.

Sneaky Sneaky.

It's for a good cause! Come on guys, dig through your stuff to donate!

Thanks to my Book Group friends that helped me to bind these.

This is for a friend having her first girl!

I'm shipping it out today. It's going a few states away.

It's a good thing I'm not allowed to make anymore blankets for my kids.

This is a hard one to give up.

I got a little carried away with the green,

but it's super cute if I say so myself!

Heads Up my Friends

Baby Bundles are coming up in April!

We are collecting quilts, receiving blankets, onesies, socks, outfits,

booties, caps, bottles, pacifiers & size 1 diapers.

The Stake has a goal of 150 bundles.

Last year we did 250! As Humanitarian Specialist for the Mather ward,

t'is my responsibility to motivate & collect these items.

This is where my computer addiction comes in.

I found easy patterns for baby caps & shirts made from a plain T-shirt.

You can find the patterns here plain cap, tied cap, 90 min shirt.

From only ONE women's medium t-shirt, I can get 2 caps & 2 shirts.

(imagine what I can get from a men's XXL)

So as a Ward, we'll be collecting T-shirts.

Who doesn't have a collection of t-shirts from the gym,

giving blood, races, high school, work, etc.?

How often do you wear them?

Even if they have a stain, we can cut around it.

I can even use the ribbing around the collar if it's in good condition.

After we collect these t-shirts, we'll have a "Recycling & Cutting Party"

Here, we'll get together & cut out the patterns.

You don't need to know how to sew!

Below was my practice. I took one of my t-shirts size medium.

Traced the pattern for the shirts.
The sleeves.
Tied cap.

Here are all the pieces I got from the shirt.

What was left of the t-shirt.

The ribbing from the collar.

Finished shirts. Don't look too close.

One sleeve is bigger then the other, throwing off the collar.

This is why I do practice ones first. I also measured wrong on the blue ribbing.

Booooooo

But now I've learned my lesson.

The 2 caps.

We're also going to make these booties. If you don't sew, you can help cut.

You can also use old receiving blankets for these booties.

You know, the ones you don't want to throw away

but are stained so you can't donate them.

2 pairs of booties can be made from 2 "Quick cuts" or Fat Quarters.

Joann or Wal Mart for $1 -$2.

Pattern for the booties.

Been Busy

Needed some good homemade Christmas & housewarming gifts.

Bought some terry clothe,

surged the edges (you can tell I haven't trimmed the edges yet),

and learned how to applique'. It was tons of fun & looks good.

I made some others that look better.

Can't post them cause it will spoil the surprise.

A birthday present for one of Grant's classmates.

She got a dollhouse from her mom,

made her some blankets & pillows for the beds.

And these have been a great hit.

Kirsti came into town with these super cute necklaces.

They are super easy & fun to make.

Here is the site I liked the best for instructions.

Some advice, if you're making these for gifts, make some duplicates.

The hardest part is deciding which ones to give away.

Who wants to help me make one of these??

Homemade by Jill is AWESOME!! But darn her,

I can never finish what I've got on my plate before she has something else I want to do.

I think it's like a drug addiction.

A Quick Blanket & Congrats to Crista

Talking to my Mom last week, she says a co-worker's last day

before maternity leave is the next day. Really?

I had wanted to make this gal a baby gift & where did the time go?

Mom doesn't live close to work, neither does the preggers.

I told my Mom we could make a baby quilt in no time flat for her last day of work.

So we run over to Joann & grab some fabric.

Well, I was up after midnight finishing that thing.

Next time, I'll know it takes at least 4 hours to do a quilt,

more time if I want to be creative & not to cheat on the binding.

A couple weeks ago, we got a call from Crista.

She asked Jared if he'd like to baptize her.

Astonishment was not our first reaction.

A little bit of unbelief was more like it.

Jared & I had both worked with Crista over a decade ago.

She was married into a LDS family, but refused to go to church.

A year ago, she called & told me to sit down cause she

was gonna ask what time church was.

She came almost every Sunday, but said no to missionaries.

Then moved to Woodland. Starting seeing the miss' and decided

it was time to officially get rid of her stubbornness towards the church.

Congrats to you CRISTA! We are proud of you

& support your decision no matter what!

We're glad you're finally in a position to accept the Gospel.

It's always so wonderful to see someone make covenants with God.

Especially when it took a good 16 years or so to get there.

C'est fini..... well, almost

After seeing this, I knew I just HAD to have one.

So I got to thinking about doing a swap with some others gals.

We would each do 14 of one page.

Yes, 14.

Then swapped them. That was at least a month ago.

Pages were just sitting in the bag.

But now I have a friend's surger & decided I need to get this thing done.

I bought some stabilizer, placed the pages back to back, & went to town.

Mail box with postcards & rotating flag.

Back pocket for wallet, future temple recommend,

money (I still need to cut out the money), & envelope to pay tithing.

Apple tree-pick the apples & place them in the basket.

Super cute bird hiding in the tree.

Water scene-put the fish on the water, use the pole to

catch the fish & put in basket (not in pic).

The fishies have little magnets sewn into their mouths. I know, cool right?

Water scene-froggy comes out of hiding, lady bugs move

back & forth on ribbon, butterfly goes up & down,

everything else is velcro to move around.

Learn to tie your shoe!

I don't think this red fabric is made anymore.

Zip open the lady bug to pull out more spots.

Noah's Ark zips open, I'm gonna find little animals to put in the ark.

Learn to button.

Farmhouse with pig, rooster & cow finger puppets. A pocket to place them in.

I made this one, that was 44 finger puppets to make.

Mr. or Mrs. Potatoe Head. The yellow pocket is for their accessories.

I think I'll make some missionary clothes, or silly face items.

Car theme. The lights are velcro & hide behind the black pocket.

You can place fire on any house & the fire truck puts out the fire.

Car comes from pocket behind house to drive on street.

Super cool. The kids love them.

Now I just need to learn how to do

button holes & find some metal clasping rings to hold it together.

Someday I'll make more pages & make a cover.

Somedaaaaay.