Quilt Tops Done and Blog Clothing Weeks

Have you heard about Kids Clothes Week? I have been making pajama pants for Tyler, as I stated on an earlier post. I have added Teeny Tiny Zoo pj pants in chocolate and some clown fish fabric pj pants to his wardrobe, but of course they are in the wash and not photographed so I can't show you them, can I? There is the set I made a few weeks back with Heather Ross' seahorse fabric and a plain white tshirt. Hopefully you read that post and visited Hawthorne Threads shop for some great fabrics! I also made a pair from an aliens in outer space print on black, shown here.

I have been a busy girl, but a bit behind for sharing on Spring Top Week, which ended 2 weeks ago. Nevertheless, I was inspired to take one of my skirt fabrics and make a cute top. Cool and colorful and easy. I am glad I read the pattern reviews first because they helped a lot (the back is too wide, so make it narrower by at least 1 size or your bra straps will be showing!) New Look 6891 is the one I used for it, but mine is shorter than their version. I will be looking up pattern reviews from now on when I sew clothing.

Many miles have been put on my 2 machines lately. I finished up several UFOs, made a very cute Whirly Wheels Baby quilt (from Moda Bakeshop) that will be a QOV  and it is made with Moda's Cherish Nature. Jelly roll plus a little yardage and you can make this in one day! I have quite a stack for the long arm quilter.

I don't do the quilting myself. I would need a class, which isn't possible here. It would be great to someday have the confidence and talent to make it from start to finish, but for now I leave my quilts in the hands of practiced and talented long-armers I know.

This is my version of "Orange Crush," the Quiltville.com mystery quilt of about 2 years ago. Bonnie's version has an elaborate border, which I am not going to do. I think I may add a simple solid border to this and call it a day. I used so many bright scraps here that I am naming mine "Key West Crush." I put it in a box when I had all the rows together because I just wasn't sure I liked it at all. Now I love it. It has been properly aged.

Last but not least is my expanded version of "Off the Grid" from Quilt Dad and the Moda Bakeshop. I added a 4th row to his version so it will cover more at Christmas when it adorns the sofa. Also, I omitted the rows of honeybun strips between the blocks. It took 2 packs of Glace charm squares and a Glace honeybun to make it. Really easy.

I should get all of the above quilt tops (plus one more I am not showing yet) back from the quilter by the end of Summer. I want to beat the holiday quilting rush.

It's a Beautiful Life

 Crazy, hectic, stressful sometimes, but overall it is a BEAUTIFUL LIFE! These are some of the things I have thought about since Mother's Day:

There are so many people living alone. Grandparents who live thousands of miles from their grandchildren, like mine did most of my life. I get to see my grandson every day.  There are many parents who rarely see their kids. I have both my kids right here in Pensacola, and my daughter and grandson live with us. We get to be a part of raising Tyler to be a good person and a confident, responsible man, steer him towards college and a career he loves. Teach him values and goals and skills.

He's already very much a helper. Just over a year old and he wants to sweep the floor any time he finds the broom or dustpan. Here he is helping wash Mama's car. Okay, he'll do anything with water and bubbles, but he really wanted to help do this too.

The other day I was bending down, reaching below the porch to where some wild blackberries were growing and he came up next to me and pulled on my arm to "save" me from falling off! (I wasn't falling, but he sure thought I was too close the edge.) He had the most concerned look on his face. Chivalrous! And he gave me 2 spontaneous kisses for Mother's Day weekend. Those were the best part of my weekend!

My grandparents and both my parents are here in Pensacola. It is nice to have lots of family close by, even in this technological world we live in. Email can never replace a hug. I am not sure who gives better hugs, my grandmother Elsie, or Tyler.

Having such a supportive husband who has my back at all times is something I do not take for granted either.He is awesome 100% of the time.


I thought I would share a fun song with you.Yes, it is disco-y. Very ABBA sounding, but I love it. Who can listen to it and not want to get up and dance? It is too upbeat to sit still! I hope you enjoy this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pyly3JtXoy4&feature=related

Mother's Day

Was your day nice? I hope so. I got to relax and actually sew all weekend! I am proud of myself for getting some UFOs done. Accomplishment goes a long way, doesn't it? Working full time means there is always something on the design wall waiting, waiting, waiting.

I got flowers from my husband and also from my daughter. My son sent me my greeting via email.

Such a sweet card from my girl, about how we are friends and how lucky she is to have me as her mom!!! How great is that?  Totally what I was aiming for as a mom. Friendship after they are all grown. She bought me these roses and Bryan brought me the mixed arrangement!

The weather was so beautiful - meaning clear with low humidity and not too hot. I stayed out in the yard for hours getting some sun and playing with my grandson in his little pool.

I spent Saturday at the sewing machine mostly. I got out a quiltville.com mystery quilt that I never finished putting together. 2 more rows to join and that top is finished! Yeah! I had it laid out on the floor and Tyler was dancing all over it. He likes the colors a lot. It is very bright. And I had leftover blocks, so I put together a baby quilt for him. I should have pics to post of them later this week, although it won't be quilted yet.

So all in all, it was a wonderful weekend and Mother's Day. I think being a mom and grandmother is the best. Not always easy. Sometimes hard on your heart and your nerves, but totally rewarding.

Pajama pants

Ten days since my last post. I have been busy and never have time to take pics to go along with my posts. Or, I should say that I very rarely get to be on the computer at home. Anyway, I've been making applique tshirts, pajama pants, quilt blocks for the Off the Grid Nine Patch and pillowcases.

I recently shopped at Hawthorne Threads and got some very cute miniature prints: Heather Ross' sea horse print in orange and Michael Miller's Teeny Tiny Zoo.  I had to make pajama pants for Tyler. He loves the fish print ones I wear and I thought I would see what tiny prints were available to make him his own.  He loves sea horses. He thinks they sound just like regular horses, so he winnies when he points to them! Ha!  He's not too awake yet in this picture, but I assure you he loves the pants and coordinating tshirt. That is supposed to be a seahorse on his shirt. Hard to tell, I know. I am getting the hang of this iron on applique stuff.

I didn't know this until now, but when you buy from Hawthorne Threads and make something, you can go back to the fabric page and post a pic of what you made - including a link to your shop! So I am hopefully driving business to my Etsy shop when people look at the pic. Guess I'll have to make some of these outfits for sale there! Using my own pants pattern, of course. Not Simplicity's.

However, for this I used a Simplicity 3650 costume pattern. Super easy. Each pair took less than half an hour from cutting to putting the elastic in. And that Heather Ross fabric feels like silk! So soft.

I hope you are enjoying the great Spring weather, like we are. It is unusually mild and not humid here for the end of April. The weather seems to be a month behind. Maybe that means a nice Summer too?

The weekend and into Monday

Hi! I'm catching my breath after a busy weekend. We celebrated my grandfather's 88th birthday. He is doing much better and hopefully will be home from the rehab center in a week or two.This is him with my cousin, Meredith. She and her family visited this past week from California. Her mom is my mom's little sister. It was great to see Meredith, Matthew and their parents, Laurie and Mike. We watched some videos of the kids when they were little and also one of my great grandmother's 99th birthday. It was her last, but she enjoyed it. She was even on the local news! She raised 4 kids - during the Depression - as a single mom. She was a strong, no-nonsense woman!

Anyway, we had Grampa's birthday party in a private rec room at the rehab. Lunch and birthday cake, balloons, gifts and cards. It was nice. Some friends of my grandparents came down from South Carolina. They've been friends for 40 years at least.

One thing we got to do was take a 5 generation picture with my grandparents. Always nice to do that. How many people can say they are great, great grandparents? This is my daughter, me, Tyler (my grandson), my mom, Grampa and Gramma. My son and his wife were there, but I am not sure where Chris was when we went to take this pic. He should be in there too!

I finished the binding on a small 9 patch quilt , made two applique tshirts for Tyler and did some fabric shopping with my aunt. The nine patches came from a quilt along hosted by Crazy Mom Quilts last year. It is pictured on the right. At http://katespaindesigns.blogspot.com/2010/04/perfectly-imperfect.html today I found Kate Spain's latest quilt creation. I am inspired to make one just like it with my remaining 9 patches and more scraps! Its too cute!

The tshirts feature some of Tyler's favorite animals. This one uses a great fabric that 1 year old Tyler picked out Saturday when he went shopping with me! He was so excited about the lion, tiger, zebra and rhino pictured on it that I considered putting the animals upside down on his shirt so he can see them better! Ha!

What kind of blog roll do you have? Is it strictly about one thing, like quilts? Or is yours diverse? I am expanding mine. I found this wonderful blog today http://blueyonderranch.com through another blog I follow http://vintagechica.typepad.com - it is in her list of must reads at the bottom of Friday Favorites. Stefani guest posted about Creating Life Margins, and I went from there to her Blue Yonder Ranch blog. What a great mom. She's so lucky to homeschool her boys and she really loves every minute. I hope you expand your blog roll with a few of these. They will lift your spirits for sure!

Finished Projects

Currently (as always) I have a ton of things started, and many more ideas I want to jump into, but I am also finishing some things. *Pat on my own back*  Here is one of the 2 high chair covers I made for Tyler. I found this cool Fisher Price high chair at Good Will but it had no cover. I can't find any in stock online, and the ones I saw on Etsy were $45 each! So I created my own pattern and made 2. Same fabric, which I got at Connecting Threads and LOVE. This one has a dolphin appliqued on - the other has a dark brown giraffe. You can see that he likes it a lot. He kept pointing to the dolphin and saying "daaa?"

If you haven't shopped at Connecting Threads you are missing out. They make their own fabrics and thread in America. And the thread is such * a * deal !! 1200 yards for less than $2 and in a ton of colors! Good quality too. Way better than Coats and Clark, if you ask me.

Also I have finished binding this hexagon quilt I made. My first Jelly Roll project! "Fresh" by Deb Strain for Moda. Such bright citrus-y colors! The pattern for it was the cover quilt of McCalls Quilting October 2008. Fun to make, but no instructions on binding those inside corners. Let's just say they aren't pretty, but it is done. And Tyler loves the colors. He admired it when it was just in the layout stage on the design wall he was maybe 6 months old! He's going to be an artist, I tell ya!



I have 3 skirts done, but no pics yet. Sorry. I will get them taken tonight. Promise.

Tidbits, April Showers and Keds

Been pretty crazy here. I am working on skirts. One fail, one I love. Pics later. I have discovered that my hips need a not so tailored skirt. And bright colored fabrics may not be the most trendy thing for skirts, but I like them! The Chinese Takeout fabric I bought is just too cute!

April showers should be here any minute now. We should be getting 2 inches and lots of lightning. Good thing I brought a book to work. If the power goes out...

OTHER NEWS:

My grandfather had surgery before Easter and he is in a rehab center now. It seems that either his dementia jumped way ahead or he has delirium, which I have been reading about here.  Either way, he is feeling good, but thinks he is back in Pennsylvania, not here in Florida. He needs some therapy to see if they can get him mobile again. His legs are very weak. I pray that my grandmother makes it through this without collapsing. She is just flat worn out and a bundle of nerves. She is definitely someone who thrives on an unchanging schedule. Good thing my aunt and uncle and their kids are coming to visit next week, right? She should perk up with them being here.

I have spent some time trying to keep up with the blogs I follow, and at True Up I found this!  Heather Ross Keds shoes at Zazzle.com!! I LIVED in Keds when I was pregnant with my son. Cute little gray jersey lace ups. But these from Heather are adorable! I just need $60 plus shipping to get that pink unicorn pair. Or the roses. Or Princess and the Pea. Can't decide.

I got 3 quilts back from the longarm quilter last weekend. A hexagon quilt, a small lap sized 9 patch, and the one I made for Laura's granddaughter. See earlier post. Need to get those trimmed up and bound. I should be doing that today, but my gameplan is a little off. As in, I didn't think about getting the one I want to work on first out of the baby's room until after he was asleep. So it is still in there. I'm at work and I will have to try to remember to get it out of there before bedtime tonight.

That's it for now. Have a happy Thursday!