Yo-Yos, Circles, Coins and Flying Geese

My Yo-Yo quilt runner is done. Yes! *insert silly dance here* I have worked on and off on this thing for about 5 years. So *insert more silly dancing here*. This is my contribution to Sew and Tell.

 

I hate it and love it. I think it works well on our dresser, but it also took forever since the sewing machine never touched it. I definitely learned a new technique. The yo-yos were made from a butter spread lid. I have about 4 rows left over where it will hang over the dresser. Should I add them? Does anyone know what the rules are for stitching the yo-yos together? I used anywhere from 4 to 8 stitches depending on my mood.

.

 I hate it when books say attach yo-yos together and that's it. Kind of like quilt as desired, right?

 So go visit Sew and Tell. There are more talented and crafty people than me out there.

I also made some progress on my cross stitch goals for the year- Cirque des Cercles.

The single color is relaxing. No more new stitching projects until I finish this. I have finished a lot more of it than I thought I would considering I was sick. The Ink Circle Stitchers are working on a lot of tempting projects. 


I just finished this coin quilt top with a Moda jelly roll called Spring Magic.

 

I am piecing the back out of left over pieces of the jelly roll. It figures that the width is 46 inches wide! I think I want to bind the quilt with a light pink polka dot. I need to find this first!

  

 My models helped me with the pictures. They did great! Of course we are still in our PJs. Can you tell?  


These are my Nancy's Quilt Shop block of the months that were cut but never sewn.

 

I finally bought a Bernina after spending a year without a sewing machine. Now I have no excuse to finish. The triangles and their points are killing me. The Marti Mitchell templates help line everything up, but the ironing is the hardest part. There should be books on just pressing! How do you press these things where 6 corners meet at really weird angles?

 

I thought I disliked the templates, but now I realized I just hate blocks with 70 or more pieces. LOL. I really didn't like hand piecing this one so that's why the rest of them sat around for a year. Why did I buy the warm AND cool colorways. 21 blocks to go! I can do it.

These are only a few of my yearly goals as blogged here. I think I am on track to remove a lot of those undone crafty things that make me sigh. It's been a busy two weeks.

Update:
Do the threads on the orange block bother you as much as they bother me? I also noticed I missed a yo-yo. Errr. Ok I was in a hurry this morning. :)

I'm still here, cough

I have been not feeling well at all. I have been on antibiotics and hopefully they will do their thing and I will feel like doing something crafty next week.

I am bummed I missed Sew and Tell Friday. The Yo-Yo quilt runner is still in progress.

I'll leave you with a picture of our in house architect. 

 

See you next week.

The Craft Hope for Haiti Etsy shop is open!

I am always completely amazed at generosity of the crafting community. Amazing people are opening a shop with donated handmade items at Etsy. All proceeds from Craft Hope go to Doctors Without Borders.

Too bad we missed the Tom Selleck pillow too.
Check it out. Go shop!

Or donate more traditionally at

redcross.org

clintonbushhaitifund.org

Receiving Blanket Quilt

This is a quilt made with Minkee from Minkee Delight Fabrics and flannel receiving blankets that someone bought me as gift from Target. I have about 10 or more in good condition from the last two times and I thought something special could be made out of these instead. They are so cute, but babies grow out of them too quick.
Patchwork and Minkee were sewn right sides together and turned right side out. There is no batting between the layers. I quilted straight lines in the ditch between the rows. It finished at about 36 by 60 inches. The bricks are 4 by 9 inches. Anna loved the texture of the dots and it fits Zoe's crib well.  I liked how quick it came together. Zoe was only about a couple months old at the time. So fast was good!
Maybe I will make a tutorial on how to make one if there is interest.
Sorry about the lousy flash picture. The sun disappeared this afternoon.

Make sure to click and check out the inspiring pictures and stories at Sew and Tell Fridays. There are some super talented people out there.

Sew and Tell Friday

Last night I was wondering if I should make a new piece of my blog and call it Friday Finishes. It would be a kind of show and tell of sewing. Instead I found AmyLouWho cleverly created Sew & Tell Fridays and this week asked for any gifts that were made over the holidays. Oh and I am 6 days late,*ahem*, but so what. Right? This is too much fun. So I am going to jump in and share.
This Christmas I made a polka dot crayon roll for my niece and since they seemed easy to make I made two more for Anna and Andrew.  As you can see someone admired the first one.

Since I made Andrew a quilt that used some hedgehog fabric, Anna has been begging me to use the pink version on something for her. This seemed to be the perfect opportunity to use this fabric that has been in the stash for quite a while. I also got play with some linen. Bonus.

I used markers since I was worried the crayons might write on the fabric as they took them out and put them away. They were stocking stuffers.

This tutorial here at Skip to my Lou spelled out what exactly to do. I love how she used the rick rack. I am pin challenged already so I used my rick rack in the ties! I fussy cut and fussy folded to make the hedgies and mushrooms show up.
I think I have a very lucky three and five year old.

So visit Sew & Tell Fridays and see all the homemade goodies made.

I love polka dots!

Yeah! Part of my goals was met this weekend. I had to put the lining in the polka dot linen basket. It was the scariest part. I must have use 40 pins. It measures 6 by 4 by 3 inches.  I need to figure out what kind of stiffener to use to make it more boxy than lumpy. The linen sort of holds its shape, but not when I lift it by its handles. What do you use? I want the other two baskets to be less pliable. They are going to be pink/green and aqua/red. The fabrics will be Japanese hedgehog prints. The idea for this came from the linen zakka cozys for crayons and markers that were made this Christmas for Anna and Andrew. A cozy made for a cozy? I probably throw whatever quilting stuff in it that needs a home.




Mostly I spent this weekend having a cold along with everyone else in the house. The couch was my friend. I must have picked out as many cross stitches as I put in. Thankfully the kids got out their pillows and blankets and 'slept' on the floor of the loft. Zoe seems content to find out what can be chewed on and what can't. She is getting her incisors.

On Friday, I made a ham and corn chowder that I simplified by using frozen corn and ham steak. I also took my trusty apple pie in jar to make an apple crisp. I love that all the work for the apple filling was done this summer. Both recipes were throw ingredients in, cook and eat. Dinner was made in 15 minutes. Comfort food like that is the best. Everyone is over the cold for most part today. I knew Jesse was better when he started cleaning. He actually scrubbed the inside of the trash cans in the bathrooms. Whoo Hoo!  I made homemade pasta from scratch Sunday night. Yummy. Andrew still has a bit of the sniffles.

It feels like spring outside. Our apple and fig trees are getting buds on them for leaves. When are you suppose to start tomatoes in the Southwest? I can't figure out the growing season for vegetable gardens here. We will have five raised beds, 4 by 6 feet, under our olive trees. All books seem to be written for the non-desert garden. When are you suppose to start tomatoes in the Southwest? Do you sow in the garden or in starter trays? What month do put them outside? So many questions. I hope we'll be successful this year with something.

Oh my peas!!!

Eeek!  I got this in the mail yesterday. Thanks so much Jenny for making my day! I love Heather Ross.

Can you find the pea?

Book Love

What should I do with this little guy? He's a Quaker freebie from The Workbasket  He is 3.5 by 2 inches. I already have tons of pin cushions and don't really like floss rings. A bag maybe for a tiny project. Hmmmm.

I used these books from the library so much, I decided to splurge and buy them. I made this napkin holder from Emma Hardy's book, Sewing In No Time. I've already had requests for more. Uh oh.

They were a great excuse to buy more red and white fabric to add to my stash. Thanks Becky.

I got the idea for the coasters from Joelle Hoverson's Patchwork and Quilted Gifts book. I made a pile of them to give away for the holidays. I really want to make the Amish puzzle ball for Zoe with scrappy bits of fabric.

 

Can you imagine having a hobby room like this? Yumma. I am working on a stuffed dog for Anna. Her review of Tone Finnanger's Sew Pretty Homestyle was, "Can you make all of them?"

Me too. Me too.

2010 Goals

I have few things that must get done this year. Does everyone else sigh when they look in their cabinets of stuff? Sometimes I panic when I see UFOs that need to be fully finished.  Here is a list of the sewing that needs to be completed by the end of this year.

1. Quaker hedgehog bag, The Workbasket
2. Log Cabin Quilt pair
3. Cirque Des Cercles cross stitch, Ink Circles
4. Coin quilt, Moda Bake Shop
5. Linen baskets -3, Zakka Sewing: 25 Japanese Projects for the Household
6. Christmas ornaments, Just Cross Stitch Christmas Ornament Magazine
7.  Yo-Yo table runner
8. Cherry quilt, Happy Zombie blog
9.  Anna's Woodland Bloom quilt, 9 patch sorta scrappy
10. 2 Old block of the months(22 blocks left undone when I had no sewing machine for a year!)
11.  6 pointed star quilt top, pieced by hand
12. Cherry Blossom Biscornu, Sweetheart Tree
13. Kathy's Violet Biscornu, Chatelaine
14. I am sure there are more so I will leave this blank :)

Personal Goal:
Lose weight like everyone else and get moving.

Good news: DH (J) is starting a new job soon. He was transferred across town to our backyard. Literally... The school we can see from our bedroom is the school he is working at-same job, different school.

Happy New Year!

Happy Birthday Anna!

So tired. We got back from the happiest place on earth on Friday. When we arrived, we had fog and rain and I was worried we might have a very wet trip. It was 60s and sunny the next day. The Candy Cane Inn was fabulous and was in walking distance from everything. We got to see the fireworks from Disney the first night we were there and could hear and see the Hotel of Terror from California Adventure from the second story balcony.

We ate our continental breakfast and headed over to Disneyland. Anna got a pin for her birthday and we all ended up with free "Our 1st Visit" or "We're Celebrating" button pins. On every ride, the park attendants said happy birthday to her, and it made her day very special. I don't think she knew it was the birthday girl button she wore that gave it away. I asked her how they knew and she smiled, "...cause it was!"

The first ride we hit was the Buzz Light year ride. We fast passed it an hour or two later. It was a lot of fun. It was pretty sad that Andrew scored higher than me through the first time, but we figured it out the next time. I love the pictures we emailed back to ourselves.

Jess is on a mission. Determined and focused as always. He so wanted level 4.  Boys and their games...

Don't ever go on Autopia with a 3 year old at the wheel. Your back will never be the same. We giggled all the way through. Anna, Andrew, and Jess got to ride first and wait in the long line and then I used the Baby Rider Switch program to go on the ride immediately with Andrew again without waiting. Awesome!!

Of course we had to go on the kids roller coaster.  It was a lot of time in line for a short ride, but the long wait to see the princesses was worth it.

Jess stood in line for 1 hour and fifteen minutes and the kids sat and had a snack of goldfish and granola bars. It was lunchtime, so a lot of the kids whose parents didn't have snacks with them were staring at us like a zoo attraction. Trust me, you can always bring water into any amusement park, but if you put the snacks under the diapers and A&D, you can bring almost anything.  Anna was shy at first, but soon she was asking Snow White why she wasn't wearing her red shoes like her doll. She said she had them at home being polished. Right as we walked out, Ariel and Belle came in the exit.  With viewing Cinderella in the parade, she got to see all *6* princesses.

The parade as well as Cinderella's castle was dressed up for the holidays.

 

I was amazed at the skill of the nutcrackers. Imagine this interview: You have to march in formation, you need to play the coronet, you need to do both with a mask obscuring your view and a costume that isn't comfortable. I went to music school for this?

We went out to the Cheesecake Factory for lunner (lunch/dinner). I hate the CA nutritional labels on everything. I don't want to know my piece of cheesecake has a thousand or more calories, what is the fun in that? Andrew made it through a few pieces of bread and started to fall asleep. I told him to lay down in my lap in the booth, and he was asleep in seconds.

We took a nap/rest in the hotel, ate the rest of Anna's chocolate birthday cake from Vons, and headed back to the park. We went to Nemo, the carousel in Fantasyland, and Pirates. It was getting close to the New Years Eve festivities and it was getting crowded. Nemo was a long wait, but since there was a water show opposite Pirates we nearly walked in to that ride. Wow. Captain Jack Sparrow and his lair was fabulous. With the updates to the ride, it is like the ride is based on the movie that was based on the ride.

Besides someone trying to take our stroller in the dark at 9:30, unbelievable crowds at night, and a very wet potty incident after the last ride that we will not speak of, the day went great. The kids fell asleep on the stroller on the walk home, and Zoe who spent most of the day asleep and comfy in my Mei Tai, was fabulous. 

It was a great birthday party.