I finished the valance a long time ago.  It is the same striped pattern as her bumper.  Man, I love this fabric! (It’s Farmer’s Market by Sandi Henderson.)

The bottom of the curtains is the same as her bedskirt, which is in pieces on my dining room table, and has been for months and months.

When I made her bedding originally I measured wrong, and when we dropped Creamie’s mattress to the lowest setting the bedskirt was too long.  So I got all excited about making it fit and got it all unpicked and pressed and…. and it’s still sitting here, unpicked, and in bad need of a good pressing.

I am hoping that by the end of next week I’ll have her bedskirt finished and a few big throw pillows for her to lounge about with.  That girl loves pillows more than anyone I know.  Well, except for her mother.

Also this week I worked with a bunch of ladies from my church making quilts to donate to those in need.  This one was mine, it’s 90 inches square.  All of the fabrics were donated, one woman sewed them all together, and then all the ladies got together a few nights ago to tie them on quilt frames.  Only, I hate those little tassle things.  So I brought this one home and tied it with knots instead of tassle’s and I got it all finished last night.  And it might not be beautiful, but it is warm.  I thought I was going to overheat holding this quilt in my lap for hours and hours.  I’m linking up to Sew+Tell over at Amy’s.  Go see what everyone is doing.

PS- Yesterday afternoon I jammed my toe while skidding around the corner in my socks to answer the phone.  And it hurts.  I was sure it was broken yesterday, but today it’s much less sore… and much more purple/ble/green/technicolored.  Ewwww gross.  The bruise is spreading and it’s almost 3 inches across.  It hurts.  But it’s my left foot so I can still sew relatively easy.  It’s the chasing after Creamie that is hard.  Happy Weekend!

This is a wedding quilt.  The guests signed the white strips between the gray and orange blocks.

Best of show winner.  No big surprise there.

This was my favorite quilt.  This is a mini, and she had an identical  full size version as well!

So many little pieces, so so many pieces.

The LDS Dallas Temple, another favorite and winner of a Judges Choice Award.

Best choice of fabrics, and look at those cute stars!

This was all pieced by hand, and it’s huge.  Like at least queen size, maybe larger.

But this one kind of blew me away.  This quilt is also gigantic, and it is completely done by hand.  All pieced by hand, all appliqued by hand and then all quilted by hand.  It gave me newfound motivation to pull out Creamie’s alphabet quilt and get it finished.  If I continue at my current rate (which is a rate of zero.  It’s sitting at the bottom of a giant stack, untouched for months and months.) she will be in highschool before I finish it.  Also, I am more and more excited to go to the International Quilt Festival in Houston in November!

Alright, if you want to see some more pictures of these quilts, you can go to my flickr set.  Or click on any pic to go to flickr so you can see it bigger.  Happy Sunday!

Oh, and then I made one more.  My friend Josie has two daughters, ages 8 and 16 and they will both be getting cuddly Russian quilts to remember the years they have lived in Moscow.  (They just moved to Amsterdam after 8 years in the Mother Country.)  I wasn’t thrilled about the borders when I first put them on, but I love how they look in these pictures.  Of course, I see a few other mistakes (which I wont’ tell you about and no one else will ever know!) but overall I really like my finished product!

These quilts were inspired by this quilt by Amy Smart.  Each of the flags are 3.5 by 5 inches, and set into an 8.25 inch block (finished to 7.75″)  There are a lot of polka dots in this quilt, but I don’t think that’s what you first think when you see it.  There are seven fabrics of each color (white, blue, red and brown/tan)

I’ve got to do a little work on the backs before they get quilted.  The girls friends from school signed the backs before they left Russia, so these are going to be like a big cuddly yearbook, only better.  They’ll get all the good memories without the awkward pictures.

So here you go girls! I hope that you enjoy them.  I am adding these to Sew+Tell at Amy’s.  And I’m going to spend the rest of the weekend cooking something delightful, sewing something fantastic, and organizing my closets.  I don’t think there is anyway to go wrong with that.  It’s going to be the perfect end to that vacation I’ve been pretending I am on.

PS- Today is Friday the 13th!  Which means it’s pretty much my favorite day of the year.  I think something lucky is going to happen.  I better go to the thrift store and find out.  Happy Friday!

This first package came last week from my new internet friend TraceyJay.  We are doing a scrap exchange, and look at all these pretty pinks she sent me!  Love them, particularly the two on the right.  Be still my heart!

She also sent me this pretty fan of colors so I can make one of these, using this tutorial (I can’t find TraceyJay’s blog post about it, but this link will take you to her flickr pics.)  I will hopefully get started on this project soon.  I think I’ll squeeze it in at the top of the list.  Or maybe I’ll redo my list completely.  And I’ll make the list in circles too, instead of in lines.  Then it truly would be never ending… and that is much closer to accurate.

You just can’t help but be happy when you look at stuff like that, right?  It makes me smile!  But do you want to see what put an even bigger smile on my face than pink and rainbows of fabric.  I know, it’s hard to imagine… but look.

Do you remember a few weeks ago I posted about my latest internet crush?  This little girl by oil painter Margaret Owen of Permanent Magenta stole my heart the moment I saw her.  Well, she is now at my house.  She arrived wrapped in bright pink tissue paper, and I couldn’t have been more happy.  I literally squealed when I saw the little box in Scott’s hand.  I quickly made space on my wall for her, and I love seeing her everyday.  And, if I didn’t tell you before…  Margaret Owen is seriously amazing.  Seriously.  Happy Thursday!

I pulled it out to get a better look and when I tried the latches to see if it opened I was shocked at the contents.  I only took one quick little peek, and then stuffed everything back inside and heaved it up to the register.  I paid my $3 (in all quarters mind you) and quickly hoisted it into my car (along with the rest of my loot, but that’s another post.)  When I got home I left it in the car.  I knew that Creamie would want to dig through it with me, but I was worried about a few little loose bits I had a quick glimpse of.  So after Scott got home and was watching Creamie play in the tub, I dragged this baby out in front of the bathroom door and opened the lid, showing off each piece as I pulled it out for all (Creamie, Scott, family of rubber ducks) to see.

Spilling out of the inside pockets and erupting from the bottom was yards and yards of fabric.  There is a scrap of velvet, some ripstop nylon and some dark brown vinyl.  Some is pretty satin, some is nice lining fabric, but most of it is the hideous polyester that old tablecloths and pantsuits were made of.  That will be donated this week.  I just can’t justify saving it to make a red and white leisure suit.  Oh, and every time I touch it I shudder.  The texture of that stuff is repulsive.  I do not want it to touch my skin anywhere.  Ever.

Next up is a few rolls of ribbon, and a spool of gold metallic elastic thread.  This is only about half of the ribbon, but the good half.  There are several other (ugly) rolls going right back in the “Donate” Box.  There was also several yards of new 3/4″ wide white elastic, some cording, and some black tube elastic that will find their way into my sewing box.

Several bits of lace.  Most of these are just little scraps, less than half a yard each. But the prettiest one (second up from the bottom) is a good sized roll, more than three yards.  It is going to be perfect to trim a dress for Creamie. And it’s soft and shimmery and so so pretty.  There was also about 15 yards of creamy/dingy looking gathered lace.  And that along with 15 yards of rust colored pom pom fringe is in the donate box.  They just look dirty (though the inside of the suitcase is completely clean and dust and bug free) and I don’t even want to touch them without washing my hands.

These two large wooden beads.  I am thrilled to have them, I already have a purpose in mind and they will show up in a project before the end of the year.  They are about 2 1/2″ high and a little over an inch wide.  Awesome!

A small collection of pearl head pins. There was also several little bags/boxes/papers full of old straight pins.  (Those were what I saw and opted to wait until I didn’t have Creamie’s help to dig through this treasure chest.)  I’ll probably keep these, but I won’t be keeping the flat head straight pins.  I bought a box of pink glass head pins a few months ago and I can’t bear to use any others.  Does that make me vain?

There were lots of needles.  Lots and lots of needles.  After I got all the piles of pins sorted out I had a little (big) pile of needles, 99 to be exact. Plus three sewing machine needles.  They range in size from 4″ to 1.5″ long, and all different thicknesses, tips and eye sizes.  I have no idea what I’ll do with 99 needles, but I clearly need to make myself a larger needle book.  Or three.

There was a random assortment of packaging I found as I was digging.  Most of it was pretty blah, but these three I thought were kind of cool.  More needles, and some hooks & eye’s.  I wonder how old these are, and what this woman was doing in England…

Here is the contents of a small jar of buttons.  Which was mixed up with a large jar of straight pins.  Most of them are nothing fancy, they look like they are the extra’s from clothing. There are several that have a mate and are part of a pair. But they look to be your run of the mill standard white plastic shirt buttons, black pants buttons, etc.  I do really like the yellow buttons, and a pretty new collection of shiny silvery one’s.

This last picture might be my very favorite from the whole box.  On the back of a button card, one lone button still stapled on, some one has written “Water front yard.” and then underlined it three times.  It must have been important!  I don’t know why, but I LOVE this!

The woman who owned this suitcase before me was a saver.  She had bags of little scraps, pantyhose legs, the cut off hems of pants, strips of old t-shirts and cuffs from old shirt sleeves.  I think she cut buttons off of clothing before she got rid of worn out pieces.  As I was going through this suitcase in the hall while Creamie was taking her bath Scott told me that this suitcase was like a 1970′s version of me.  Only I don’t buy much polyester.   She kept her sewing gear in a big yellow hardsided suitcase, and I keep mine in my closet.  But we both keep teeny scraps of everything. You know, in case we need it later.

Digging through this suitcase and picking up bits of pieces of some unknown woman’s life was the most fun I’ve had from any $3 purchase.   She wrote reminders on the back of her button cards. Hilarious. Now I’ve got some new fabrics to tuck in the closet, a lifetime supply of needles, a little ribbon and pretty lace, some good elastic, wooden beads, and buttons.  Oh, and a bright yellow suitcase.  And for some reason these words keep running through my mind…

“We all Live in A Yellow Submarine,  A Yellow Submarine,  A Yellow Submarine.”

Here was my stack that I started with.  Looks yummy, no?  After a LOT of cutting and sewing and pressing (and some unpicking, but that’s always how it goes, right?) I have something to show for it!

The flags are 3″x5″ set into am 8″ tan/brown block.  I’ve got one more top to make still.  And I’ve got to do something about borders.  The backing fabric is a creamy white, which the girls had all their Russia friend’s sign, like a big giant cuddly yearbook.  That was totally Josie’s idea, and I think it’s brilliant!  But I’ve got one done, and my living room and dining room are both covered with little flags and strings.  A lot of strings.  I’m off to vacuum.  I’m adding this to Sew&Tell at Amy’s.  And then I’m going to see what I can do about making a cherry pie.  Yum!

[ Rufus dog pattern from hop.skip.jump. ]

Excuse me while I give myself a stern talking to.

“Ok self, listen up.  Stop adding things to your list.  We’ve got enough stuff on it and we really need to start some crossing things off the list.  (I’m a crosser, not a checker).  I’ve got a NEW list for you to stick to.  Pay attention, these are in order.

• 1)Finish two quilt tops this week.
• 2) Notecards- wait for coupon and then combine with giftcard and get for free. Awesome! So maybe this should have been number three…
• 3) These patterns?  Well, hold them and love them and start thinking about Christmas.
• 4) And the rest of that stack of things to do and places to go and drawers to organize and laundry to fold?  Well, think about that tomorrow.  You are much more successful with three item lists.”

[ Gerald Giraffe pattern from hop.skip.jump ]

(Except for maybe this next one.  I might need to make this doll right now.  Or maybe four.  They look cute in fours!  List is out the window.)

[ Poppy Doll pattern from hop.skip.jump ]

I love this doll, so simple, so perfect, so on the way to my house. inbox.

Oh, and one more thing for that list

• 5) Justify purchasing three patterns (they were on sale!) by telling yourself that you returned half of the shirts you bought yesterday, and a sweater from last Christmas. (Really.  It’s been sitting in the bag with the tags and the receipt for MONTHS.  And thank you Kohl’s for giving me all my money back.  And good luck selling a sweater in July.)

The Hop. Skip. Jump Shop is the brainchild of Australian designer/artist Fiona where she sells her patterns and a few amazing softies.  She also has an adorable blog which was one of the very first that I ever bookmarked.  You know, back in those days when I had no idea what a google reader was.  I don’t know how I survived.

Now, I’m going to see what I can do with this Thursday of mine.  I guess I’ll start with number 1- Work on those quilts.  I’ve got everything cut (I think) and now I just need to start sewing.  If I am lucky maybe I can get Scott to do the pressing of seams for me?  Wish me luck on that one!  What’s on your to do list?

• 6) I almost forgot.  I am going to make a cherry pie today, well, if I can get enough cherries pitted and into my bowl before they make it into my mouth.  I love fresh cherries!

*From Title: Ok, so it’s 10 little cuties if you count them all up, but I told you, I’m good with lists of three.

Elizabeth Hartman, the brilliant mind behind Oh Fransson! recently discovered this gem at her local Goodwill.  I know.  I’m DYING!  Pink!  Vintage!  Sewing Machine! !!!!  No disrespect to Bluebird, my own vintage turquoise machine, but I would trade her in a heart beat for this beauty.  I mean look at her!  She’s PINK!! And came with a whole pile of feet!!!  (I better throw in a few more exclamation points for good measure.) !!!     !!       !

She paid just $40 for the machine, the sewing cabinet and a drawer full of feet and manuals and accessories.  I think that is what Thrifting Heaven is going to be like.  You can read the whole post here, or check out her flickr set to see even more glorious pictures.

Creamie and I have been having a great week so far.  I’ll post some pictures soon, but today I’m going to be cutting and sewing like mad.  I’ve got a (self imposed) deadline!

I actually have six niece and nephew birthday’s before the end of August, and I’ve only got one more gift to make.  I’ve never been so prepared and ahead of schedule in my life.  And actually, if it hadn’t been for Danielle I wouldn’t have even thought to make an apron for little D.

Danielle and I are d0ing a swap of sorts, and she sent me this scrap from her stash.  She made a dress out of it for another small girl a while back.  But as soon as I saw this little scrap with the cute border print I knew it was going to be just enough to make a little girl’s apron.  (I’ve got a few other bitty pieces which I already have plans for.)

I probably would never have picked out this fabric to purchase myself.  And Danielle isn’t some crazy ladybug lady either.  But little girl’s love this kind of thing, and I’m sure both of them are/will be happy with their new stuff.  I didn’t have anything to line this apron with to make it reversible, which is kind of a bummer.  I think making them reversible requires much less work.  No pressing under tiny little seams which always gives me a few steam burns from the iron.

I do love how the sash turned out with the little bit of border print on the ends.  And while I was making the long skinny ties I came up with a much more brilliant way to turn long skinny ties.  I’ll share that sometime soon.  (And then someone can point out to me that “Duh, of course that is what you do.  And if you had just googled it first then you’d have seen these 18 million tutorials to teach you exactly that.”  But you can hold off on saying that until I post it : o) .)  The best part about using someone else’s stuff to make things with?  It is free.  And I am all about free projects.

So I learned something in the 10 minutes it took to photograph this little number. Do you want to know?  Here goes. A) It is much much easier to get a good picture of an article of clothing if you can put it on the person it is intended for and take a picture.  Creamie is too little to model this one for me.  B) If you can hang it on a hanger photographing is also easier.  C) If all else fails, take down all the pictures from the only bit of wallspace in the living room and use that as a backdrop.  D) I really need different colored walls to make this look good.  E) Next time I buy/build/decorate a house, I am going to have a specific spot where I can take photos of clothing.  I mean, it will have other purposes as well, but it may or may not be designed with this particular idea in mind.  F) You really shouldn’t make ABC lists that go any farther than D.

Happy Weekend!  I’m going to a party tonight and a few parties tomorrow and probably one on Sunday and then another Monday evening.  I’m all about the summer BBQ.  (Also, it’s a State Holiday Weekend so the more the merrier!)

I actually bought this fabric more than a year ago.  Purple really isn’t my color, like at all.  I’m actually going to call this lavender, that makes it seem less awful in my mind.  But, there’s a story here, ready?  Creamie was a very strong baby, holding her head up by the time she was two days old and standing up while holding onto one (yes, just one) of my fingers before she hit 2 months.  She was just so interested in moving and seeing things that she wasn’t about to sit still.  I think she was just impatient to get going, like her mother.  Sometimes as she would stretch her neck and turn her head to see what was going on she looked just like a turtle, peeking out of her blankets.  And Scott started calling her Tortuguita, which means “little turtle” in Spanish.  It was right about this time that I saw this fabric, designed by Anna Griffin.

And the first two times I saw it I didn’t buy it.  It had two major flaws.  Number 1: It was purple.  Number 2: It had turtles printed on it.  I’m not really a turtle prints kind of girl.  And it took some time to come to terms with both of these in my mind.  But I finally caved and brought it home with the intent to make her a dress.  Eventually.  And then six months later I saw these little lavender Mary Jane shoes on clearance for $3.  They were a  near perfect match, but only in one size.  So I decided to wait until she grew into the shoes to make the dress so she could wear them together.  Brilliant of me, right?  Actually it was probably more a case of  “oh-good-now-I-can-procrastinate-this-project-a-little-longer-without-having-to-feel-guilty-about-starting-new-projects.”

At any rate it is now 16+ months after I purchased the turtle fabric and I have a finished project.   And I have come to terms with the little lavender turtles and now I actually like them.  It probably had a lot to do with finding the coordinating lavender and lime green print for the hem and the sash.  You can’t go wrong with a little lime green, right? This dress is complete with puffy sleeves (no pattern for those, I made those up as I went and only had to pick them out once, which I consider very successful), a long lavender sash and matching MaryJanes.  This is probably my new favorite.  I love how she looks in it.  And as long as she can collect a handful of sticks she likes whatever she is wearing.

I made this hem six inches deep so that I can let it out as she grows and hopefully this dress will last more than her standard three months.  Not that I mind.  When she grows out of this round of dresses I will have the perfect excuse to make a few more.  What did you get done with your weekend?