Little Owl

 I made my daughter, Z, an owl costume for Halloween this year.  It is the first year that I made her one, but it was a lot of fun to make!  She is an owl, which I don't think a lot of people got.  Everyone thought she was little red riding hood, which doesn't make sense to me because her cape isn't red.  I forgot to add an orange beak to her hood which might have made a difference.  That is okay because she looked cute!

 I used the Children's Corner Lucy pattern for her dress, and I used the cape pattern from Growing Up Sew Liberated for her cape.  I then cut out many "feathers" for her cape and dress, fused them on using lite bond, and then sewed around each feather.  The cape is size 3-5, and she is two so it should fit for a while. 

She was so cute.  She said, "I'm an owl.  Hoot!  Hoot!", and then she would move her arms up and down to flap her wings.:)

The weather was perfect.  It was in the sixties when we started trick or treating and clear, unlike last week when it was snowing and we lost power for over 30 hours!  It is supposed to snow tonight, too.;(  I am glad it held off until after Halloween!

Blogger's Quilt Festival

 Hi, everyone!  It is time again for one of my favorite blogging times of the year-Amy's Blogger's Quilt Festival!  It is always so much fun seeing so many beautiful quilts and finding new blogs to love.

For this round of the festival, I want to share my yo-yo quilt that I finished this past summer. I first started this quilt in 2003, and it is the first quilt I ever started. I really didn't realize what I was getting myself into when I started making it; I just knew I wanted to make a quilt; I didn't have a machine, so it would have to be all done by hand. I am so proud that it is completely pieced together by hand without using a machine at all.

I could also call this my "traveling quilt" because it has definitely traveled. When I started the quilt, I was living in Birmingham, AL, then I got married and moved to Ft. Payne, AL where we lived for about a year. We then moved to Denver, CO, which is where we live now. It has traveled across the country with us as we have moved several times. I have worked on it while driving from Denver to Hobbs, NM to visit my brother, sister-in-law, and new niece, and it has been to Destin, FL several times over the summer to visit with my family. It traveled up to Newport, VA one New Year's Eve to go to a concert, and it has also been to San Francisco, Dallas, Atlanta, and New Orleans. I even worked on it on the ten hour drive from Denver to Yellowstone National Park several years ago. Many of my friends have seen me working on this from time to time over the last eight(!) years, which is so different than the quilts I have worked on with the machine. I like that it has traveled so much, and it was easy to take with me since it was hand sewing.

 The finished quilt is 56 yo-yos across by 56 yo-yos down with the yo-yos being approximately 1-5/8 inches across. It is 90" square, which I think makes it a queen size quilt. It has 3, 156 yo-yos!

It is the quilt that I am most proud of making, and I am so glad that I finished it!  Thank you so much for stopping by!

Be sure to go check out all the other amazing quilts on display by using the button below! 

Book Club #2

I finished another book club stitchette last night!  I really like this one with the boy and the girl sitting on the couch sharing a book.  I dressed the boy in orange and blue to make him an Auburn fan since it is football season, and I was watching the football game while stitching it.  I am going to find a wall to hang these on and slowly add to the collection over time.  They are really fun to make!  The pattern comes from Wee Wonderfuls. 

I am linking up with Stitched in Color below!

Book Club

I am jumping into the world of embroidery and finished up this little book girl early this week.  It is so nice to have something that I can work on late at night while watching TV, especially since my sewing room has been turned into a guest room.  It is hard to pull out the machine when you only have 30 minutes to sew!

I ordered these book club stichettes a couple of months ago, but it took me a while to get started on them; I don't know why since they are so much fun!  I am almost done with my second one, and it only took me a couple of days!  The pattern is from Wee Wonderfuls, and you can order it here.  When I went to link up, I saw that she has patterns for Summer, Fall, Winter and Spring, too!  I need the fall one because it has little girl with a pennant saying "Go!".  Wouldn't that be perfect on the front of an a-line dress in your team's colors?  I am definitely going to have to make a little Auburn girl!

Fall Dress for my daughter...

 I made this dress for Z today!  I used the Lucy pattern by Children's Corner in a size two, and the fabric is from Joanne's.  It seems they always have at least one cute corduroy every fall, and I love this print with the deer, owls, bunnies and mushrooms.  It is perfect for fall.

 The Lucy pattern is my favorite for a simple A-line dress.  I lined it with some bright green Kona cotton for some cute contrast, especially when she is running and kicks up her hem.  I added a peachy orange ribbon to give it a little more interest as well.

The dress took about two hours to make, including cutting out fabric and a quick run to the store for buttons.  I love it with her new fall boots she got for her birthday last week!  I need to make more of these for her this fall.  It has been a while since I have made little dresses!

I am linking up to Stitched in Color's Celebrate Color below.

Shearwater Kaftan

I recently finished a new shirt for me!  It was finished two weeks ago, but I couldn't get pictures of me in it.  It is the Shearwater Kaftan by Make It Perfect in Anna Marie Horner's Loulouthi.  This is the first time I have made this pattern, and I love how it turned out!  It is perfect for the fall time.

It went together quickly, and I finished it in an afternoon. I love the little buttons on the side so you can wear your sleeves up or down.

I love this print by Anna Marie Horner, too.  I may have to order some more so that I can make a skirt!  I bought the fabric and the pattern at the Fancy Tiger in Denver.

I am linking up to Celebrate Color! 

Happy Mail! Letters R and G for my ABC quilt!

Way back in April, I attended a retreat in Ft. Collins that Amanda Jean of Crazy Mom Quilts was attending as well.  I was working on my A block to finish up my sewconnected quilt, and it was fun because she was also in the Sewconnected Virtual Quilting Bee with me.  She offered to make me a couple more letters, and I jumped at the chance to not have to make 14 more blocks.  So a couple weeks later I mailed off some fabric to her and then mailed more this summer because I kept finding fun additions.   Last week, she mailed me my "G" and "R" blocks which I love!  Didn't they turn out great?

"G" is for grapes, golf, guitar, giraffe, ghost, garlic, and girl.

"R" is for rabbit, robot, roads, runners, rooster, rabbits, ruler, and rings.

Thank you, Amanda, again for making me such awesome blocks!  Maybe I can finish piecing the top together this weekend.  I might squeal with glee at this top when it is complete!:)

Sewconnected 2 Quilt Finished!

I finally finished my Sewconnected 2 Quilt this past weekend!  This quilt has taken me quite a long time to actually finish, but I am so glad I did because I love it!  I gave it to my daughter for her 2nd birthday this past Monday, and I finished sewing the binding on Saturday night. It is 69 x 96 inches-hung sideways!

I am going to try to take another picture where it isn't so bright because the sun washed out the colors of some of the blocks...

I wouldn't have been able to make this so lovely, if it weren't for all the blocks sent to me from the other members of my swap, who were all amazing partners who made such beautiful blocks!
Thank you!  I listed everyone who sent me blocks below with their flickr account first and their blog second.  Go check them out!  They are all so talented! If you would like to see some of the blocks up close, I created a gallery on flickr of most of the blocks I received (some blocks wouldn't post to the gallery?)
jqadams   quiltdad
CarolinaPatchworks   blog
imagingermonky   blog
handmadebyalissa  blog
artistdoris-threadsofconversation,
sasikirina
sonjaartisania Artisania

ritapizza-mochi studios
quiltinkimmie
marilynkb /   Marilyn Butler

maddieandme  blog
kirbyloulou   Unraveled   
sodeste  blog
isaacsmama  Adventures of a fabric junky


I am linking up to Fabric Tuesday at QuiltStory!

WIP: ABC quilt...almost done!

I have been making good progress on my ABC quilt!  I have all of the letters done, except for one "R" and one "G", and a friend is making those for me.  Woohoot!  Here are all the letters I have made recently...

"Y" is for yarn, yaks, yachts, yin and yang, yo-yo, yogurt, yoga, and yield or yeld.:)  Look at the yield sign closely...

 

 "Q" is for quilt and queen.  "Q" is hard to find!

"V" is for Volkswagon, vans, valentines, vampires, vulture, victrola, venn diagram, violins, and vegetables!

"Z" is for my daughter Zerah and Zebras!  I think this is my favorite because it has my favorite person on it!  It was fun finding pictures and printing it on this printable fabric for her.

 "X" is for x-rays and xylophone.

"H" is for hedgehogs, hippos, helicopters, horses and hands.  I love the little handprint I included; she did not enjoy having paint all over her hands though, and she immediately started yelling, "off, off, off!"

I have started on the backing, and I need to add a couple of borders to it.  I will share pictures of that soon.  I would not have been able to make a bunch of these letters if it weren't for the generosity of several quilting blogger friends who sent me some novelty fabric!

Thank you, Stephanie of Scraps, Cheryl of jovaliquilts, Melinda of quirkygranolagirl, Michelle of Michellesews, and Avivia_hadas on flickr!  These would not have come to fruition without your help! 

Decisions...

As I continue to work on my ABC quilt, I have come to a dilemma.  I am not sure if I want to add sashing between the letters or not.  I am at a standstill on making letters while I wait for some friends to send me a few other pieces and for fabric I ordered to arrive, so I thought I would go ahead and start adding the sashing between the letters for those that I have.

Once I did, I am not sure I like it this way.  I think the extra white may detract from the letters themselves, which is what I want to stand out.  Plus, it is 75" across without the sashing.  With the sashing at 2.5", it will be almost 90" wide and crazy long, which will be harder to quilt on my own machine.  Without the sashing, it will be 75" x 90", which is a good full size quilt.

Any opinions?

I have decided on how I am going to make the back, so I spent yesterday during nap time cutting around 40 2 1/4" x 5 3/4" blocks of some of my favorite fabrics.  I am really excited about the back!

WIP: ABC I-spy quilt

I didn't mean to be gone from this space for so long, but I have been working on a few things including my ABC quilt!  I am so excited about how it is coming together, and I am now in the home stretch.

"K" is for kites, kisses, kangaroos, keys, king, and koala.

"O" is for oranges, owls, and octopus.

"J" is for jellybeans, jigsaw puzzle, jacks, jewelry,  jack-o-lanterns, and "jump, puff. jump, jump, jump."

"I" is for ice cream, iguanas, ice cream shop, India, Italy, and Ironing board.

"L" is for lions, lemons, lettuce, leaves, lobster, ladybugs, letters (mail), other letters, and lawnmower.  I love the lawnmower! 

"N" is for nurse, numbers, and nest.

I still have g, q, v, x, and z left to go.  Plus, I am going to write out my daughter's name, so I need another e,r,a, and h.

I wish I had some of the Heather Ross volkswagon bus print for "V".  I am going to try some of the printable fabric to draw out some designs for v, q, x, and z.  All I have for y is a little bit of yarn fabric, and I can't think of anything else except including some yellow fabric.  For Z, I am using zebras and pictures of my daughter.  I have a little x-ray fabric and a xylophone, but it isn't enough for the entire square.  I did find something that may work for q, but it is in progress as well.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Yo-Yo Quilt is finished!

I sewed the last two yo-yos together this morning, and it feels so good to have it be finished! My daughter thinks the yo-yo's look like flowers, and she points at it and says, "flowers" which led me to take the quilt to the park and rose garden this morning to snap some pictures of it.

I first started this quilt in 2003, and it is the first quilt I ever started. I really didn't realize what I was getting myself into when I started making it; I just knew I wanted to make a quilt, I didn't have a machine, so it would have to be all done by hand. I am so proud that it is completely pieced together by hand without using a machine at all.



I could also call this my "traveling quilt" because it has definitely traveled. When I started the quilt, I was living in Birmingham, AL, then I got married and moved to Ft. Payne, AL where we lived for about a year. We then moved to Denver, CO, which is where we live now. It has traveled across the country with us as we have moved several times. I have worked on it while driving from Denver to Hobbs, NM to visit my brother, sister-in-law, and new niece, and it has been to Destin, FL several times over the summer to visit with my family. It traveled up to Newport, VA one New Year's Eve to go to a concert, and it has also been to San Francisco, Dallas, Atlanta, and New Orleans. I even worked on it on the ten hour drive from Denver to Yellowstone National Park several years ago. Many of my friends have seen me working on this from time to time over the last eight(!) years, which is so different than the quilts I have worked on with the machine. I like that it has traveled so much, and it was easy to take with me since it was hand sewing.

It is fun to look at and see how my fabric choices have changed over the last eight years. When I first started it, I was working at the Birmingham Children's Theatre as the charge scenic artist, and I would use scraps from the costume shop. This led to realizing that corduroy isn't the best choice to use for yo-yos! I have several 4x4 sections that are made that didn't make it into the final quilt from these early days due to the material I used; I didn't know that wool, silk, and cotton might not be the best mixture of fabrics if you wanted to wash it at home. I plan on using those yo-yos for a doll quilt for my daughter, so they can still be used and loved.



The final quilt is 56 yo-yos across by 56 yo-yos down with the yo-yos being approximately 1-5/8 inches across. It is 90" square, which I think makes it a queen size quilt. It has 3, 156 yo-yos!


Honestly, if I had known eight years ago that it would take so long, I don't know that I would have started it, but I am so glad that I did!

Fancy Block #1-Gnome and Mushroom

I attended a quilt retreat in Ft. Collins back in April taught by Penny of sewtakeahike on paper piecing.  I left confident that I would be able to conquer paper piecing (which is due to Penny's awesome teaching), but then I didn't really practice my skills and started forgetting what I had learned, which is never good!  Amanda and Melinda came up with the idea of making a fancy block each week to practice the skills we learned over the weekend.  They have been showcasing their beautiful blocks over the past two weeks, but I had not had the chance to make one yet.  This week I was determined that I would be able to play along, so I made this gnome and mushroom block!

The pattern is a free one from Sonja at Artisiana; isn't it so cute?  If you aren't familiar with her patterns, you should definitely stop by and check her out. She has such cute ones! It took me a little while to get back into the swing of thinking the way paper piecing goes together, and I did pull out my seam ripper several times to fix a piece sewn on backwards.  Overall, I like my little gnome, and now I need to decide what to do with him.  Pillow?  Mugrug?  Placemat?  Hmmm.....

Go check out Amanda's block at crazymomquilts and Melinda's at quirkygranolagirl!

I made this yesterday, and it is so good!  I have never used Mt. Dew in a recipe before now, and I would never have thought of that!

WIP: Yo-Yo Quilt

 I pulled out my yo-yo quilt this weekend to see how much I had left before it would be finished.  Penny, of sewtakeahike, is doing a yo-yo quilt along this summer, and it seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to finish up this quilt.  Plus, as I have been slowly working on my 60 degree diamond stars, I kept thinking I should really finish my previous hand sewn quilt before I start another one.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that I really don't have a lot left to do!  I have huge sections that are already pieced together that just need to be joined together.

My goal has always been for it to fit a full-size bed, so with a little help, I laid it out to see how big it is on our guest bed.  I think it is big enough!  So my focus this week is going to be to see how far I can get with this quilt over the course of the week.  I spent some time yesterday while Z was napping sitting on the back porch, swinging, and piecing parts of this together.  It was a very pleasant way to spend the afternoon!

This is the very first quilt that I ever started when I didn't know anything about quilting and I didn't own a machine back in 2003 (which is way too long ago!).  I had no idea what I was getting myself into; I just knew I wanted to make a quilt, and I knew I could make yo-yos so I jumped right in! 3,236 yo-yos that finish at 1 5/8" inches across later, and I am close to finishing!

If you want to make one of your own, you should join Penny's quilt-a-long!  If I finish this one soon, I might have to hop in to make another one; did I really just admit that out loud?:)