family baby....again

I have yet another cousin (his wife actually) that is going to have a baby....this one is a girl...just a few pictures of the quiltie that I sent off to them last week....I was really pleased with how this turned out....the gray, turqouise and pink :)



tutorial/pattern found at Ohfrasson.com (for some reason I can't link it right now!)

Hard to see but from the right, the second row....the 3rd fabric up (looks like 3 swirly flowers) that fabric was cut from a pillowcase that I took from my parents home when my Grandpa was moving out. :( I enjoyed throwing a little bit of nastalgia in the quiltie.

upclose



And here is an upclose shot of my little guy Jack, is this hat not the cutest? I did not make it, I don't know how to crochet or knit....a sister of a friend made it....we all love it.

I think she likes her quilt!!!

a new baby in the family

A cousin of mine had a baby on Wednesday, a little girl......

Can you guess her name?

2011 teacher gift

Tomorrow is the last full day of school for Emily, finishing up the 2nd grade. Wow, where does the time go? Emily showing of 2 fingers for finishing the 2nd grade. :)


Every year I make Emily's teacher a patchwork throw for the end of the school year gift. This year all of the fabric for the top came out of my stash...only had to purchase the batting and backing using some coupon's of course so this really was an inexpensive gift to make, gotta love that!



....upclose...Em's teacher loves coffee so I have some pink and green Japanese fabrics with tea/coffee pots on them and I also had some nuetral fabrics with the abc's and also addition problems on it so that worked out well too, another way to personalize the gift. :)

The label, thanks Mrs. Cutshall for a great year!

The finished product, patchwork teacher throw 2011! Come on SUMMER!

pillows

I have been making some pillow covers recently, trying to change things up a bit in the family room and my bedroom. I am an easy peasy girl, nothing too complicated or time consuming for me, all of these have an envelope enclosure on the back so I can just take it off, throw it in the washer or put it away and put a different one on, no ties, buttons, snaps etc. (not yet anyway)



This one might be my all time favorite, this is a picture of my nephew Garrett, oh my gosh this kid is a cutie!

Garrett

Here is the back, I love using chenille for the backing, so cozy

Here is a pillow I made a while ago, this was a feed sack that I had found at a local garage sale several years ago, I like this one a lot too because it has Spokane on it. :)

I got the idea for this one at a local quilt shop, this is a Moda napkin and all I did was use chenille again for backing....this one has a vintage drawing of Oregon and Washington on it, one of my brothers lives in Oregon {so does Garrett :(} and the rest of my family lives in Washington so it is fun to have a little hometown feel on this pillow too. :)

first fish

A little boy went fishing with his dad and cousin yesterday.....caught HIS first fish....he caught THE only fish!



Jack enjoying the only fish at the dinner table last night

another baby!

This little quilt is for the son of a cousin, so I guess the baby is my 2nd cousin? Little one's name is not being given out to the public until his birth (I hate that when parents do that!)My cousin, his wife and their daughter live in Colorado and were in town recently and were surprised with a baby shower that I could not attend. :( Never fear, Kristine is here!! I was able to whip this little quilt up for baby #2 last week......Baby (nameless) bedding is from pottery barn. (see below) up above is what I came up with, red, white, blue and brown, all from my stash except the backing.

The back of the quilt.

up close......I love this pattern, so, so easy but so fun to put together. Can't wait to find out what the little whippersnapper's name is going to be!

Congrats to Matt and Michelle on your new addition. :)

a special gift

I have this friend Coleen. Coleen and I met a lonnnnnnnng time ago, back in the 90's ;) Coleen was the high school chum of a boyfriend of mine way back when I was 19/20. I dated that boy for a few years and over those years got to know Coleen better and better. That boy broke up with me (whatever) but Coleen and continued to be friends and hang out. Then I moved back to Spokane and Coleen and I still keep in touch......Coleen became a momma on March 9th to a little boy that she and her husband adopted. :) His name is Grayson Samuel...this is a picture of Coleen and Grayson (Mr. Grayson was very eager to meet his new momma and dad and decided to show up 5 weeks early and was in the NICU for 10 or so days)

This is the quilt I came up with for Grayson, I was really tickled with how it came out....there are 432 2.5" squares in this little blanket, the smallest patchwork I have ever done.

The theme of Grayson's room is monkey's....how lucky was I to find not only monkey flannel for the backing but monkey flannel fabric that coordinated with the quilt top.

(had to get a wee bit creative with the backing hence the strip of squares, someone (moi) was a few inches short when telling the gal at the cutting counter how much yardage was needed, oops...I think it turned out ok though.....

....I think Grayson thinks it turned out ok too! Welcome to this world Grayson, you are such a special gift!! And congrats Coleen, you are going to be such a great momma!!

a little sneak peak

Well take a look at this.....I made a little something for a special new little someone....(don't know if the special someones mom knows I have a blog) so until I hear from the momma that the present made it to their home safe and sound...(hopefully tomorrow!!) this is all I am going to show of my gift for a new baby born last month who is the most special gift for his mom and dad who adopted this little one.

funky junk

Yeah for junking!!! This weekend some of my gal pals and I will be going to a local junk/antique show "Funky Junk" can't wait!!!

where have I been?

Jeezo I can't believe it has been a month since I last posted....I don't think I have ever gone that long w/o a post since I started blogging. OOPS! Truth be told....I took my quilting thing so far these past 3 years that I just got BURNED OUT. It only took 3 years but after finishing up all my WIPS, gifts, my large "to do" sewing list....I just could not even stomach looking at a quilt blog let alone even blogging about any more quilts....is there such thing as "quilt burnout"? Well if so I had it....started creeping around December....I did not even sign up for any flickr swaps and I used to be one of those flickr members that would be there, online just waiting for the opportunity to be first in line to enter another swap....yet more swap burnout....so along that line I have not sewn a darn thing in quite awhile and I am happy as a clam about it.....because now I have a new obsession.....my house!

This sounds really stupid but after stepping away from my sewing machine and actually spending some time in other rooms in my house....I started thinking about how much I have neglected my home these past few years....so...out with the old in with the new! I also became a wee bit addicted to craigslist! (yeah from one obsession to a completely different one!) We also are right now in the finishing stages of totally gutting the original 31 year old bathroom in our home to everything being replace, repainted...all new...here is a picture of Emily during the demo.

Soon....the before and after pictures, really soon....I might have to start sleeping in this bathroom...it is going to be so nice, so cozy(as cozy as a room with a toilet in it can get) I am just so excited about all this....



One more thing....I sold my Flea Market Fancy quilt in January....got just about what I asked for it so I was thrilled....and now...something else new....see the etsy box on the side of my blog....I am starting to sell some different things that have peaked my interest lately....nothing sewn yet....at least not yet....to be continued.....be back soon!

I love this kid

my sweet nephew Garrett, born 1 year ago today....love you little buddy...love Auntie :)

wobbowee teef

Our little guy last night, 1 month from being 5 lost his first tooth. I can't believe he is losing teeth already! It just seems like yesterday those little bottom teeth were starting to poke up through his gums.....Here he is, so proud holding up his "toof".



I LOVE this picture, so excited! He called Grandma and Grandpa to tell them the news!!!

I will be registering this little guy for kindergarten (KINDERGARTEN!?!?!?) next month. I can't believe that either. I am speechless about him going to school, and believe me, I am not speechless very often. I know people tell me time flies but it really has with this little dude. He has been my little buddy all these years, me and him while daddy is at work and big sister has been in school....2 days a week it is just he and I, no pre-k for those days, just hanging with dear ol mom, or MUDDER as he calls me, or Grandmudder sometimes too....don't ask...ok...my husband's "term of endearment" for me is Mother...yep...my family calls me Mother...so do some of my friends, but really I like it. :)

A Queen sized finish

Last year (February 8th) was my parents 40th Wedding Anniversary. In 2008 I joined a block of the month club and ended up using those blocks to put together this quilt for my parents. I was at a loss of what to do to tie them all together (hmmm word to the wise, spend the money and buy the finishing kit next time, duh!) Because there were so many stars and points in the blocks I made a big ol' Ohio Star for the center, framed all the blocks, then sashed all the blocks and this is what I came up with. It still drives me crazy that after measuring, adding, subtracting, all of the things I don't like in quilting (yet another reason I don't make patterns, I buy them!) I set 2 of the rows a bit off, uhg.......

But I don't think my parents cared. :) (or noticed for that matter!)

Happy 41st Anniversary Mom and Dad, enjoy your Queen sized quilt, I am never making one that big again. :) Love your daughter :)

first finishes of 2011

When I want something, I want it bad and I want it right now.....I wanted to get some stuff off my plate I guess you would say and have a clean craft area, no more unfinished projects, things I felt like I had to get done. So what I wanted I got, I am finished with all of the projects I wanted to make out of my SIL's Aunt's clothing, this was the last of the projects.....I think this might be the brightest baby quilt ever, YIKES, it is crazy busy and crazy bright!



I got the free pattern here. This is for a little girl coming this Spring, using once again bits and pieces of her Grandma's clothing and a little from my stash. I like how the back turned out...had some larger pieces of some pants left and were able to use them all up.

And then another baby quilt....this one is for my husband's co-workers Grandson...I don't even know the new baby's name but I just love my husband's co-worker so I wanted to make something special for them.

I am a wee bit burned out in the quilting department right now....I was thinking the other day I think for the last 3 years I have been working on at least 1 quilt or another....yikes, I am tired! Might also be why I have gained and kept on 15lbs in the last 3 years. Why can't sewing be considered an aerobic activity? If it was I would be a skinny minny! I am going to work on some smaller simpler things for the time being, a bag here or there, a few quilt blocks that I have always admired but been too scared to try and do and then just some stuff that I have had on the back burner for a while some fun pin cushions, pillow covers stuff like that. Maybe I will start moving a little bit more too, that is a good idea, maybe I can lose a few of those 15lbs by short season, not to mention swim suit season, ACK!

future quilter in training

Emily got a little sewing machine for Christmas, she was so, sew excited! She has been begging me to show her how to quilt/sew for a long time. Here she is for her first "session" of sewing. I don't think she had sewed yet because once she pushed the petal and everything started doing it's thing, she got really scared about how fast the needle was moving.


This picture I only took because of blogging and scrap booking because I normally would NOT have had my eye off the needle/7 year old hands! But here we are mother and daughter, me helping her make a blanket for her other favorite Christmas gift, an American Girl doll.

Concentrating! I wanted her first project to be really simple so we sandwiched some chenille, batting and fabric together to make a little blanket then turned it inside out and sewed the hole shut so we (as in ME) did not have to do any binding.

Here she is turning the blanket inside out, note the tongue, concentrating very hard.

Emily was very proud of herself and promptly covered her doll in the fuzzy, warm blanket. I on the other hand do not think I make a good "teacher." :/ it was totally stressing me out! Hopefully the next project both she and I will be a bit more comfortable behind the peddle!