The Merry Church Mouse

Custom Boutique Ladybug Feliz Little Girl Dress or Jumper Dress size 2T-8 Pink Co. - $60.00

2012-02-04T08:04:00.001-06:00

I just listed this little dress at Etsy for the Pink Co. Bunnies and Bugs launch. Search Pink Co for many more adorable listings!

This lively little dress will bring lots of happiness to you little sweetheart's springtime wardrobe! Ladybugs, flowers and mushrooms in vibrant colors will just make her feel like dancing! The ladybugs are machine appliqued. They are heat bonded and the edges are sealed. The back of the dress has a cascade of multicolored ruffles. The generous fit of this dress gives long life to its wearability. Elastic in ...

Click Here to Visit My Etsy Shop!

Fabric Contests... Votes appreciated...

2011-08-15T19:38:00.000-05:00

So I entered a couple of fabric contests this week.

If you feel so inclined as to vote for me, I would greatly appreciate it!

I entered this design at Connecting Threads.

This is how it would look as a fat quarter, just to give you some idea of scale.

I also entered this design at Connecting Threads.

And this design at Spoonflower for the Circus Contest.

All of these were created using Inkscape which is a free vector drawing program. I am far from mastering it, but I did learn a lot from my drawings here. :)

Might try this...

2011-08-03T08:26:00.001-05:00

My friend Courtney clued me in to a photography challenge that she is trying. It is being hosted by Laney at Living by Faith. I received a new camera for Christmas and I have been trying to learn how to use it. I have taken a few hundred pictures at this point and I am getting to know my way around the camera, but creatively I am a little challenged. I feel like all I ever take pictures of is my flowers or my cats, LOL. So, I think I might try this challenge just to see if I can learn a few things. I can't say that I will keep up every day and the thought of the self portraits leaves me feeling a little uneasy. I am not a person who is comfortable with my appearance. But some of the others sound interesting and fun to me and a good challenge creatively. Anyone feel like joining me?

Japanese Take Out...

2011-07-15T19:55:00.000-05:00

I think it is probably safe to share this now....
I made this quilt for some friends that recently got married. We happen to go out for sushi once in a while with them, so I made them a sushi quilt. :)
The blocks on the side are bento boxes and "sushi rolls". The sushi fabric is from Robert Kaufman.

Crazy Clearance...

2011-07-03T15:30:00.002-05:00

It is time to thin the closets! This skirt is brand new. Only worn for pictures. Starting bid is only 99 cents! Auction is for the skirt only. :)

More to come in the following days, so stay tuned....

I can finally share these!

2011-06-18T14:10:00.000-05:00

I have had so many things that I have been working on that are surprises that I couldn't share them until now!

I made this quilt for my niece who turned 20 a few weeks ago. I made the same pattern for her sister who turned 20 3 years ago. The pattern is "Turning Twenty" and uses twenty fat quarters. I used twenty different solids. I tried to stick to blues with a few greens and yellows thrown in. The fat quarters came from Connecting Threads and I LOVE them. They are so wonderfully soft and the colors are beautiful! I backed it with dark blue and bound it with teal.

I also finished more socks! I sent these along with the quilt for my sister and her other daughter who also have birthdays this summer. They were made with my Kool-Aid dyed yarn. I found the patterns at knitty.com. I love that site! The yarn I used was a fingering weight superwash merino wool from Knit Picks.

I have more surprises in store that I have been working on today. I can't reveal them just yet, though. That will have to wait a couple more weeks. :)

Book Review... "Sewing Clothes Kids Love" Nancy Langdon, Sabine Pollehn

2011-06-08T21:17:00.001-05:00

"Sewing Clothes Kids Love" by Sabine Pollehn and Nancy Langdon is a book full of fun patterns and great ideas. You can find it, among other places, here. I do have to say, however this book is not for the novice sewer or the weak of heart. It contains wonderful patterns, but the instructions for some of them leave out some steps that a novice sewer might not know to do and this could leave them frustrated. I would have to say, if you are a novice sewer, either be ready for a challenge or have an experienced sewer on hand to guide you.

At this point, I have made a few items from the book, but by no means all of them.

I made the Imke shirt which is a knit pullover shirt. It has options for inset sides, short or long sleeves and two different style hoods, or can be made without a hood altogether. Unfortunately, I forgot to get pictures of this before I gave it to my niece for her birthday. :)

I also made the Dortje pants. These are an elastic waist pant with pockets on both the front and the back and contrasting fabric on the knees.

One of my favorite patterns that is contained in this book is the Feliz Party dress. This is a double layer apron style sundress or jumper. It has the option of putting lots of ruffles in the back. I can't seem to resist this option, LOL. I have made several of them.

I have also made the Manhattan Special Occasion dress. This was by far the most challenging of all of the patterns from this book that I have made to date. It had 42 pieces of fabric and several yards of ribbon to contend with. When making this pattern, the instructions tell you to label each piece and label top and bottom on them. It should have also gone on to say to label right and left as well. Let me just say, they weren't joking! Some of the pieces were confusing as all get out and yes, I did manage to get one sewn together upside down. Luckily I noticed it right away. :) This pattern was definitely not for the faint of heart.

The patterns are wonderfully versatile and leave a lot to the creativity of the sewer. There are many beautiful pictures of the different patterns made up for inspiration as well. I do have to say that this is more a book for girls than for boys. A few of the patterns would be suitable to make for boys, but the majority are geared more for girls. There are also several pages dedicated to design and techniques that are quite helpful.

All in all, I really enjoy this book and look forward to making some of the other patterns out of it.

I have lots of help...

2011-05-24T17:04:00.002-05:00

Does it make sense now why it is hard to get much done some days? :)

Seriously, they are like boomerangs...

Monkey Socks!

2011-05-22T14:08:00.000-05:00

I just finished knitting these socks and I have to say that I am in LOVE! I made them from this pattern at knitty.com. This site has some great patterns! This particular pattern was just challenging enough to be fun. I used this yarn and it took way less than two skeins, but a bit more than one skein. I changed skeins at about the heel of the second sock. I'm not sure the self striping yarn was the best choice for this pattern, but I love the feel of this yarn. I have discovered that I truly enjoy knitting socks. This is the third pair that I have finished and I have one more sock to complete to finish the fourth pair.

Apparently Tifa likes them, too. :)

A Merry Garden

2011-04-20T21:08:00.000-05:00

I just listed this new set at Ebay. Custom sizes from 18m/2t - 11/12. The pants are made from the Farbenmix pattern Dortje. I came up with the top myself. It features hand smocking to gather the front and back. The proceeds from anything that sells from my website, blog, ebay or etsy shop during April will be donated to help a family who had a devastating house fire earlier this month. Many thanks to Kim and her daughter Kaylyn for the wonderful pictures!

Oh, How I Miss The Redbuds...

2011-04-16T13:36:00.000-05:00

Having grown up in Illinois and then having moved to Minnesota as an adult, there are certain things that I really miss about my home state. One of those things is the redbud trees blooming in early spring. I miss their lacy pink presence among the newly budding green trees. I always said I would have one in my yard if I ever had a yard, but alas these beauties just don't survive the Minnesota winters well. I just returned from a trip to visit my family in Illinois and I was really hoping that the redbuds would be blooming. I was a little disappointed that when I got there they were not blooming yet. However, by the end of my stay they had started popping out. Yay! I was able to snap just a couple of pictures at the botanical gardens on Tuesday. Thank you, Lord for little blessings.

Blossom St Birthday Launch!

2011-03-27T14:59:00.000-06:00

Listed this on ebay today!

Anyone interested?

2011-03-20T07:50:00.000-06:00

Would anyone be interested in a mystery sew along? I would list all of the fabric requirements and such and then present one step at a time until the project is complete. The only catch is that you would have to figure out what you were making as you went along. I think it could be a lot of fun!

I'm Holping...

2011-03-08T13:16:00.000-06:00

I's a good holper! :)

Have a happy Tuesday!

Super easy little girls skirt tutorial

2011-03-04T19:31:00.000-06:00

I have been intending to post this tutorial since before Thanksgiving and have just not had the chance to get it all put together. One of my friends said that she was going to try to learn to sew, so I told her that I would post a tutorial on how to make a simple little girl's skirt. Easy enough for even the novice sewer.

First a few general sewing tips for garment sewing.

First of all, I cannot stress enough with garment sewing how important it is to pre-wash your fabric. This is especially true if your fabric is all cotton or contains cotton. There are a few reasons for this. First of all, cotton shrinks. You want the fabric to be pre-shrunk before you make your garment so that it will fit correctly after it is washed and it will also hold it's shape much better and be less likely to have weird puckers and such after it is washed. Also, washing will tell you if the colors are going to stay true and it will wash out any extra dye or sizing that might be on the fabric, too. I wash mine on either warm or hot but on the gentle cycle. Dry it in the dryer, too. If you have problems with the edges fraying, you can try using pinking shears to trim the raw edge before you wash it. One thing I have noticed that also helps with frayed edges during washing and drying is to trim the worst of them off after washing and straighten the fabric out a bit before throwing it in the dryer. Use scissors to do this, don't just yank the threads and try to rip them, you could wind up ripping the fabric where you don't mean to. You will need to iron the fabric when it comes out as well, if you allow it to dry all twisted up like it comes out of the washer, it will be doubly hard to iron. Ironing is also a little easier if you iron it before it is completely dry. The iron will finish the drying process. The prep is a little bit of work, but it is very worth it.

Secondly a word about fabric grain. If you look at a piece of woven fabric, you can see where the threads cross at a 90 degree angle. This is called the grain of the fabric. There is a crosswise grain which runs from selvage to selvage and there is a lengthwise grain that runs the length of the fabric bolt from cut end to cut end. It is important to try and cut your pieces lined up with the grain of the fabric as best as you can. On commercial patterns there is usually a double ended arrow printed on it. This should be lined up with either grain of the fabric. Usually lengthwise, but sometimes crosswise works. The pattern will usually tell you. If you see something in a pattern that calls for it to be cut on the "bias" this is cut at a 45 degree angle to the grain. Most of the time these pieces are cut so that they can go around a curve because if a piece is cut on the bias it will stretch and bend more easily. You will not need to cut anything on the bias for this project, but it is important to understand because if you get your piece too crooked and not lined up with the grain of the fabric it could stretch somewhat while you are sewing and it can make it more difficult to get a nice finished end result. An ounce of care while cutting will make the whole project much easier, believe me.

Thirdly, a word about fabric choice. First of all, for a novice sewer, I recommend sticking with a woven fabric. Knit fabrics can be tricky to sew with. After 20+ years of sewing, they still make me cringe, LOL. Secondly I recommend spending a little extra for the nicer quilting cottons. It is tempting to buy the cheaper fabrics, and they will work fine for this project if that is what you have on hand or decide to use. The reason that I suggest the better quilting fabrics is that they tend to have a tighter weave. This lends itself to easier sewing because the piece isn't as flimsy. It also does not tend to shrink as much. It also launders better and requires less ironing of the finished garment. A great plus for any moms out there. For this project you will not be purchasing a large amount of fabric, so the extra cost is worth it in my opinion.

Now on to the fun stuff! :)

Supplies needed:
Sewing machine and thread.
3/8 inch or 1/2 inch (depending on skirt size) non-roll elastic enough for waist measurement.
1/2 to 1 3/4 yard fabric depending on the size skirt yo want to make. (Size 6 month-4t are cut on the crosswise grain. 1/2 yard for sizes 6m-12 m, 3/4 yard for sizes 18m-2t, 1 yard for sizes 3t-4t. Sizes 5 and up need to be cut on the lengthwise grain, 1 yard for sizes 5-6, 1 1/2 yards for sizes 7-10, 1 3/4 yards for sizes 12-16. Calculated using my measurements below)
small safety pin
iron and ironing board
small ruler or hem/seam guide
quilting ruler or yardstick
rotary cutter and mat (optional)

First you will need to decide what size you need to make. For this you will need to try and get some basic measurements. All you need is a waist measurement and a waist to knee measurement. (or however long you want the skirt to be knee, mid-calf, whatever)
Here are some typical waist and length measurements in case your little one is too wiggly, but you know the size they typically wear. All measurements are in inches.
6 m waist 18 waist to knee 6
12 m waist 18 waist to knee 8
18 m waist 19 waist to knee 9
2 t waist 20 waist to knee 10.75
3 t waist 20.5 waist to knee 12
4 t waist 21 waist to knee 13.25
5 waist 21.5 waist to knee 14.5
6 waist 22 waist to knee 15.5
7 waist 22.5 waist to knee 18
8 waist 23 waist to knee 19
10 waist 24 waist to knee 20
12 waist 25 waist to knee 21
14 waist 26 waist to knee 22
16 waist 27 waist to knee 23

You will be cutting two rectangles of fabric. They will both be the exact same size. I prefer to use a rotary cutter and a mat, but it is not necessary as long as you measure and cut carefully. Here is a great tutorial on rotary cutting and this video is very good, too. You could also draw yourself a paper pattern using tissue paper or brown packing paper or an old newspaper. Any piece of paper that is big enough for your dimensions to fit will work fine. You will also need a small piece of non-roll elastic the length of your waist measurement minus about an inch. This does not have to be super accurate, as long as the elastic will stretch as large as the waist you need without either being too tight to be comfortable or so loose that it is sagging. A little shorter than the waist measurement is always better than longer. The width of the elastic will be somewhat determined by the size skirt you are making. For up to size 5 or 6, I like to use 3/8 inch. For sizes larger than that I usually use 1/2 inch.

The first thing that you will do is take your waist measurement and add 1 inch. This will be the length of the rectangle you will cut.

I'll use a size 3 for my example. The waist measurement is 20.5. I add 1 inch so the length of my rectangle will be 21.5.

Next take your waist to knee measurement and add 1 inch for your hem, and add the width of your elastic twice plus another half inch. So if your waist to knee measurement is 12 inches, and you are using 3/8 inch elastic, then the equation will look like this.

12 (waist to knee length) + 1 (hem) + .75 (2 times elastic width) + .5= 14.25

Make sense?

The dimensions of your rectangles will be the first measurement x the second measurement.
In my example, it winds up being 21.5x14.25

On your sewing machine, with right sides of the fabric together sew the rectangles together along the short ends using a 1/2 inch seam allowance. These will be the side seams of your skirt. I use a serger for these seams, but you can sew them on a regular machine as well. If you wish to finish the edges you can either trim them with pinking shears or you can zig zag over the edge of the fabric as well. Press these seams to one side if you have finished the edge of the seams. Press them open if you did not finish the edge of the seams.

You should now have a "tube" of fabric.

Next we will make your hem. Press up one half inch along one edge of the tube.

Then press up another half inch along that same edge. If you need to pin this, go ahead. Place your pins perpendicular to the fold. Try not to use too many pins as pinning can sometimes distort the shape and actually make it harder to sew. Instead try and get a good sharp crease from your iron. Use steam or spray starch if needed.

Stitch this on your machine staying close to the fold as shown. You can either backstitch this line of stitching a few stitches at the beginning and end, or just overlap a few stitches from the beginning when you get to the end.
Method 1:
A trick that I use is to use my narrow edge foot and set my needle position just to the right a few clicks. I usually do about 4 clicks. I let the edge of the fabric ride along the fin of my narrow edge foot.

Method 2:
If you don't have a narrow edge foot, just set your needle position to the right a little and keep the fold going through the center of the foot.

Method 3:
You can also leave the needle position at center and use a 3/8 inch seam allowance.

Next we will make the casing for the elastic at the top.

Along the remaining raw edge, press under 1/4 inch.

Then press under another 3/4 inch if you are using 1/2 inch elastic or 5/8 inch if you are using 3/8 inch elastic.

Pin this if you need to, and sew in the same manner as the hem only this time you will start just a little to the right of your center back. If you are using the third method of sewing, then you will need to either to a 5/8 inch seam allowance or a ½ inch seam allowance. Find the center back by simply matching up the side seams and making a small crease with your fingers or use tailors chalk or mark b gone pen. A helpful hint I have learned for marking fabric that is dark in color is to use an old bar of soap. You know, when they get too little and slivery to use any more. They have a great fine edge for marking fabric, and the bonus is that it's soap so it will always wash right out.

Begin your sewing just to the right about 1/2 to 3/4 inch to the right of your center back. Remember to backstitch a few stitches at the beginning and end of this line of stitching to lock these stitches down. When you get back around stop stitching about 1/2 to 3/4 inch short of the center back mark. This will leave an opening in the casing about 1 to 1 1/2 inches wide.

Place a safety pin in the end of your elastic as shown.

Feed the safety pin through the casing pulling the elastic through the casing. Make sure the free end of the elastic does not slide all the way up into the casing. A couple of tricks I have for preventing this is to either use another safety pin to pin the elastic in place once it gets close to sliding into the casing, or to put another safety pin in the other end of the elastic so that if it should happen to slide into the casing, you can find it and work it back to to the opening pretty easily. Be careful not to twist the elastic while doing this step.

Once you get the elastic pulled all the way through the casing. Pull both ends so that several inches of elastic are exposed, allowing the fabric to bunch up on the elastic. The more elastic that is exposed, the easier the next step will be. Be careful to keep your elastic from twisting.

Now take a small scrap of your fabric and sew it to the elastic like this.

Next pin the other end of the elastic to it like this. Make sure your elastic is not twisted before you sew it and that the raw ends are flush. Sew it to the fabric scrap as well.

Next zigzag down the middle where the two ends meet. I set my stitch width as wide as it will go and my stitch length to very short.

Trim away any excess fabric. Give this a tug to make sure your stitches are going to hold.

Stretch the elastic and adjust the fabric so that the elastic all goes up into the casing.

Now stitch your casing closed being careful not to catch the elastic in the stitching. You may have to stretch the elastic a little as you sew. Remember to backstitch this line of stitching as well.

Stretch the elastic and adjust the gathers of the fabric so that the gathers are fairly even and the side seams are placed evenly.

You are done! Enjoy your skirt!

Quilting Bee

2011-02-28T05:31:00.001-06:00

Margaret's Hope Chest is hosting a quilting bee. I'm in! Are you?

Wrapped in Hope WIP

2011-02-26T10:52:00.003-06:00

Here is the quilt I am working on for Margaret's Hope Chest's Wrapped in Hope project. This is for a young girl who will be 12 in April. All of the blocks are done. Next to sew them into a top.

Big thanks to Amanda for the addition of the purple!

2011-02-24T19:06:00.001-06:00

Thought the place needed a facelift. Whatcha think?

The State of My Stash

2011-02-20T15:55:00.002-06:00

My cabinet is very full. I think I am in need of some good stash busting projects. Anyone know of any good ones?

Valeversary....

2011-02-14T07:00:00.002-06:00

Thirteen years ago today I married my sweet Love.

Happy Valeversary Love!

Photo play...

2011-02-02T19:57:00.007-06:00

I was playing with photo editing in GIMP the other day. Here are some of the things I came up with. Playing a lot with fading colors and black and white with punches of color.
Lexi and Grandma Shirley

Lexi

Tifa

Our friends Nate and Liza

Tifa

Sweaters....

2011-01-26T21:01:00.005-06:00

I finally finished these sweaters. They are for my nieces who live in Texas. Sometimes I think I must be crazy for knitting sweaters for kids in Texas where it is warm. The green one looks a little droopy on this manni. It is a size 10-12 on a size 2-3 manni. LOL Dropped them in the mail a few days ago.

Hey all you quilters...

2011-01-22T05:39:00.001-06:00

Found an awesome site for printable graph paper. Everything you can imagine and it's all customizable. :)

I am plotting and scheming my next few quilts. :)

Having fun...

2011-01-16T14:47:00.004-06:00

That's what crafting and sewing and all is all about isn't it? Sometimes I have just felt soooo stressed with deadlines and this project and that project and gotta get this done and that done that I sort of miss out on the fun of it all. My goal this year is just to try and have fun with each project and not stress about deadlines. At least as much as possible.

Kool Aid dyeing was fun! It was really fun. Here is a picture of one of the balls of yarn after it was all dry and rolled into a ball.

And here is a picture of the project I started knitting with it. This project will be a gift for someone special later this year.

I love how the colors just blend together randomly. The funniest part of it all is that I used cherry, orange and lemonade, so the yarn smells like fruit punch. LOL.

I have two more skeins of sport weight yarn to do. I plan to do these in blue, green and purple. It will be fun to see how they turn out. I haven't decided what to make with them yet, though. Any suggestions? I have a total of 200 grams.

Hi. My name is Linda. I'm addicted to Kool-Aid...

2011-01-08T11:39:00.006-06:00

Well, at least to using it to dye yarn. I don't really care to drink the stuff, myself. LOL
I found some great instructions online that showed me how to do it. It is so very quick and easy!
I purchased undyed superwash merino from knitpicks.com It is super soft and looks to be really nice yarn.
I did discover, though through my first attempt that I needed much more dye than I thought. I only used 4 packets on the first try. I also realized that I probably squeezed a little too much of the water out as the colors didn't run quite like I expected them to. I put this right into the dish and colored it while in the dish. While much neater and not nearly as messy, I found it hard to get the color to saturate through all the layers well.

So on the second batch I didn't squeeze as much water out. I then tried spreading it out on plastic on the counter to color it and then transferred it to the dish. Much messier, but I like the results much more. I discovered that the red and orange go a long way! I could have probably used less of them and more of the yellow. I used 4 packets of each for this one. I am excited about how the colors ran together better on this one. Whilst trying to keep the mess to a minimum and keep my white kitten from dying herself orange, I did not manage to get a picture of this step, LOL.

I can't wait for these yarns to dry and to stitch them up into something! :) I'll post pictures of the skeins once they are dry.

Fabulous Pillows!

2010-11-29T05:23:00.002-06:00

After seeing Randi's post about her cute pillow for the Pillow Talk Swap. I had to cruise on over and take a look. There are sooo many cute, cute, cute pillows over there! I really might have to join an upcoming round. :)

It got me thinking about doing a tutorial for a pillow of some sort. Anyone interested? I wouldn't have time until after the Holidays, but it might be fun to start off the year that way! I have a friend who is a beginning sewer and I told her that I would post some simple tutorials here to get her started with some projects. I think this would be a good little project for that.

Right now I am knitting knitting knitting away at a sweater for one of my nieces for Christmas. I am under a little time crunch for all I want to do for Christmas this year. I hope I can get them all done. I made pretty significant progress this weekend. I have the back of the sweater finished and one of the front side pieces about 75% finished. Still have to do the other side and the sleeves.

Then I am thinking of sewing an Imke shirt from this book for another niece. I have been drooling over this book since it came out a while back. I finally broke down and bought it a couple of weeks ago. I already had one of the patterns that is in it, but it is one of my favorite patterns to work with, so I figured I probably couldn't go wrong with the book. My only hesitation is that it works a lot with knit fabrics. I have never enjoyed working with knits, but I am going to give it another go. We shall see how that goes....

I Heart Mug Rugs!

2010-11-22T06:12:00.002-06:00

I have been holding this post back because one of the recipients of these reads my blog. I didn't want to spoil any surprises. :) Every year my MIL, SIL, husband's Grandma and his Aunt and I all go and see the Zonta House. Usually we go out to eat afterward and kind of make it our girls outing for the year. It's a fun way to kind of kick off the Holiday season and support a good cause, too. The proceeds go to scholarships and to support battered women's shelters.

This year I decided to surprise everyone with mugs and mug rugs. These were so much fun to make and a good way to practice some of my quilting techniques. They are a great way to use up scraps, too. I made four of them, but I only have pictures of three thanks to my lovely kitties who knocked my camera off of the counter and caused it to lose some of the pictures. Here are the three, that I do have pictures of. I used Amanda's ticker tape idea for one of them.

Bloggers Quilt Festival

2010-11-04T18:21:00.003-06:00

I decided to join in the Blogger's Quilt Festival. This is one of my favorite quilts that I have made. I made this for my MIL a couple of years ago for Christmas/Birthday (her birthday is in early January). I really fell in love with the batik fabrics that I used. I love the intensity of the colors. I also love that my sweet DH tried his hand at a little free motion quilting since the quilt was for his Mom. He didn't do a lot of the quilting, but did just a little bit. :) My MIL is such a wonderful person and really loves things that are sort of fun and random so I thought this fabric and quilt would really suit her. She's a great inspiration to me.

Book Bags

2010-11-03T20:05:00.003-06:00

My nieces Mady and Claire are taking piano lessons and so their Mom asked me to come up with some bags for their piano books. So here they are! Inside I put a small pocket and a place for a couple of pencils, because anyone who has taken music lessons knows that a pencil is an absolute MUST! :)

Looking for ideas...

2010-11-02T20:34:00.002-06:00

I am looking for fun, but easy ideas for a quilt made with blues, pinks and purples for a polka dot lover...
Any suggestions?

Wrapped in Hope

2010-11-01T16:50:00.004-06:00

Margaret's Hope Chest is taking volunteers to make birthday quilts for children who have a parent in prison.
You can sign up here!
I just signed up to make a quilt for a young girl. I am on a mission to find cute polka dot fabric. :) I hope some of you will consider signing up for the other children!

Sewing with Amanda

2010-10-20T17:51:00.003-05:00

Yesterday and today I got to spend some time with my dear, long time friend, Amanda Jean! Amanda and I rarely get the chance to sew together so this was great fun for both of us. We spent some good time at her house sewing and catching up. I always come away inspired to try something new when she and I get together. I also got to see a bit of a sneak peek into some of her upcoming surprises! Might I say everyone is in for a treat when she finishes these!

Amanda's sweet little daughter is already planning their next trip to our house when they will have pizza and M & M cookies and we will play Memory. :) She is just too cute.

For a project I pushed myself a little bit and finally finished my "One A Day" quilt-a-long top. Yay! I had the nine patch blocks finished a long time ago, but just never got it all put together. It took a little longer than I expected to finish, but I got it done just in the nick of time before I had to leave. Amanda graciously offered to pin baste it for me. She knows all the crawling around in the floor is murder on my knees. :) It's not the greatest picture since I had to take it with my phone because I forgot my camera, but here is the finished quilt top. I made mine a little smaller than the instructions called for. The thought of trying to quilt a big quilt on my little machine scares me. LOL

Bits of randomness...

2010-10-17T14:04:00.006-05:00

1.) I finished a set as a prize for a bingo game on one of my ebay groups.

2.) I made a couple of really easy simple magnet boards for our little Magnetic Poetry sets. I just got two 12x12 frames and two 12x12 pieces of galvanized metal sheets from the craft store. Then I put them in the frames and there you have it. I just put the glass behind the metal sheets. I thought it gave them a bit more stability and made it easier to put the backs back on since the sheets were kind of curled up. I hung these in our hallway. Now we can play with the Magnetic Poetry and not have them all over the refrigerator and falling in the floor and such.

3.) My sister and brother were here for a little bit this weekend. It was a short visit, but it was so nice to have them here. We went walking in an old granite quarry that is now a park and nature preserve for a while yesterday afternoon. The weather was perfect. It was in the 60's with warm sunshine and a cool breeze. Too bad most of the leaves are gone up here, though.

My gorgeous sister :)

My brother in his element... taking pictures. He's quite the photographer.

Me and my sis.

Old granite quarries which now are filled with water. Some of these are very deep and people actually scuba dive in them.

The power of a quilt...

2010-09-29T17:48:00.003-05:00

I have thinking lately about the power that something as simple as a quilt holds.

I was folding one of the many quilts that I have in my living room. This particular quilt was one that I had made for my mom as a birthday gift a few years ago. Some of you know that my mother passed away earlier this spring. On my last visit to see her, just a few days before she passed away, as she was lying in her bed at the nursing home, she was covered by this quilt. My mother was very weak at the time and could hardly speak and was only partially aware of what was going on around her. I said to her "I see they have your quilt here that I made you". She didn't speak but, her eyes lit up just a bit and she just smiled and shook her head yes. It was obvious that it meant a lot to her to have it there. It isn't a big quilt, it wasn't a difficult quilt to make. It just a simple gift made with love.

My dear friend Amanda has mentioned how she was given a quilt as a child when her mother passed away and what a special memory that is for her.

I have an Amanda-made quilt that was given as a birthday gift a few years ago. Every time I look at it I remember our friendship and many of the good times we had in the past together.

A few years ago I made a quilt for a fundraiser. One lady donated to the fundraiser even after the quilt had been given away already. After conversing with her a bit and realizing that her daughter deals with many of the same issues my niece does because they both share the same genetic disorder, I was moved to finish a different quilt for her daughter. I mailed if off to her as a surprise. She was very touched.

I have a quilt in my living room that I made for myself. The colors remind me of a trip that my husband and I took to Cancun a few years ago.

Quilts can remind us of days past. Quilts can bring comfort to the sick, dying and brokenhearted. They remind us that someone cares about us and is thinking about us. They are both utilitarian and works of art. The art of quilting brings generations together.

So, to all my quilting friends... be encouraged. Sometimes we tend to belittle our own work. We say, "what, my quilt? You should see the ones that so and so makes... they are so much better". Know that your work is powerful and that those who receive them are most likely more touched than you know, even if all your stitches and corners are not perfect.

Playing with Inkscape...

2010-09-09T16:27:00.003-05:00

I downloaded a vector drawing program called Inkscape a couple of days ago. There is a bit of a learning curve for me as I have never used a vector drawing program before and most of the tutorials are for the Windows version and I am using Mac. I have had a little success figuring some things out. Here is what I have figured out how to make so far.

A cute little flower...

A funny looking bird

And a couple of curly cue designs.

I am hoping to figure out how to use this so that I can make my own graphics for auctions and scrapbooking and such. We'll see how it goes.

Falling into Autumn

2010-09-05T16:30:00.005-05:00

The Graduates are Falling into Autumn over on Ebay
Here is my listing.
Special thanks to little miss B and her mom for the great pictures!

A bit of explanation...

2010-08-29T14:01:00.003-05:00

I apologize for the sporadic nature of my posting during 2010. It seems this year was to be a big year of change for me and has really sort of sucked away a lot of my time. I have found it difficult to find the time to blog with my time being divided so many ways. Figuring out what my new "normal" will be has sort of been an ongoing event and seems to be ever evolving. Just when I think I might be settling back into some sort of routine, something else shifts it again.

My mother's passing in May was the first big event that will forever change me. Some days are more of a struggle than others, but I am trying to keep moving forward. The grieving process is a weird, weird thing. Things will come up out of nowhere and set me into a period of really missing her. Knowing that it will most likely be a very, very long time before I see her again is sometimes very overwhelming.

My Mom and Dad a few years ago

Eight weeks to the day after seeing my Mom alive for the last time we had to put our sweet kitty to sleep. She was a huge part of our lives and I miss her sweet face and her gentle nature so very much. I long to just let her sit in my lap, which she loved to do, and pet the soft patch of black fur on the top of her head. I want to see her snuggling with Aeris in the way that they used to. She was 13 years old and had been with us for the last 11.

Sasha in May

Barely two and a half weeks later, I brought home a new kitten, Tifa. It was not in the plan, we were content to just have one kitty, but she was pitiful and needed a home. As it turns out she is quite wild and drives Aeris nuts most of the time. She is a bit on the aggressive side. I am hoping that we can teach her not to be so aggressive and that it is mostly a kitten stage that she is going through. Don't get me wrong she can be sweet, too, but it doesn't last for long. She is just trying to play, but she plays very rough. Lets just say that she and Aeris are NOT best buddies. Aeris will growl and hiss at her, swat her, maybe wrestle with her a little, and walk away. Aeris will sometimes even growl just when Tifa comes near her and doesn't do anything. I wish that they could be buddies like Sasha and Aeris were. Right now, I'd settle for Tifa to just leave Aeris alone.

Tifa

Any kind of sewing this summer has really been a challenge. I just did not have the desire for quite a while, and just as I started to regain some interest, we got Tifa. As anyone who has ever had a kitten knows, they are just about as much work as keeping up with a toddler. They are into everything all the time. Sewing during the last 6 weeks has been VERY challenging. I keep trying, but I feel like it takes me forever to finish a project. My sewing room has been in complete disarray for weeks because that is where we shut her up when we are gone and at night. I had to put anything that she could get hurt with into an area not accessible to her. So, that meant shoving things in drawers and cabinets where they didn't belong, so now I can't find anything without spending a half an hour looking for it. I had a box with quilt batting scraps in it, she proceeded to pull all of them out and had them strewn all about the room. She managed to roll my exercise ball that I sit on behind the door to the room at one point. I spent the afternoon yesterday trying to make some sense of it all. She wants to pounce on the needle of my machine when I am sewing, eat every crumb of scrap I drop in the floor, and attack anything that is dangling over the edge of the ironing board.

All of that to say, that I am hoping that over the next few months that things will become easier and settle into a new "normal" for me, but I can't guarantee it. I hope to be able to post more often, but the truth is, I just don't know how things are going to all pan out yet. I have a lot that I would like to share with you all, I just need to get myself back into the groove of things. Thank you to those of you who still check in for bearing with me. Hopefully you will have something interesting to read soon instead of my babble. :)

Meet Tifa....

2010-07-31T09:39:00.003-05:00

This was not part of the plan... After losing Sasha a few weeks ago, we were settling into being a one cat household. We had no plans to get a new kitten and were content to just have Aeris and that was all. Then.... in walked Tifa. My co-worker found her outside the bank one morning last week. She was so tiny and dirty and hungry and all scuffed up that I couldn't help but take pity on her. Soooo off to the vet we went. Made sure she was healthy, got some parasites taken care of, and now, well I guess we have two kitties again. It was touch and go with Aeris for a few days, but now it seems as though they will work it out and at least be able to live at peace with each other.

This free photo slideshow personalized with Smilebox

To My Upcycling Friends....

2010-07-21T21:38:00.002-05:00

I was cleaning out my closets today and I have several pairs of pants and jeans that would be great for upcycling projects. I simply do not have the time to use them up for anything. If anyone is interested leave me a comment. I have a few pairs of black jeans, a few pairs of blue jeans, some knit polo shirts, some black twill pants and some tan/ khaki twill pants. I will try and post some pictures soon. Most have only minor flaws, or flaws that could easily be worked around. The pockets on the jeans are all in good shape still, as well.

Pawprints on my Heart

2010-07-13T20:56:00.002-05:00

A little over 11 years ago our sweet little sunshine girl Sasha stepped out from under some bushes at our apartment building and right into our hearts. She was instantly the third member of our household and a huge part of our lives. She slept with us at night. She chatted with us during the day with her sweet little sing-song meow. She worried about us if we let out a high pitched noise. When we adopted our second kitty Aeris she became a maternal figure to her. They eventually became best buddies. She always had a very sweet disposition and carried an almost regal air about her at times. Other times she was just plain silly.

On Friday, July 2, she was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor on her stomach. There wasn't much that could be done. So with much anguish and very heavy hearts we bid farewell to our sweet kitty on Monday July 5th.

I put together a slideshow to share with you.

Customize a slideshow

Sleep sweetly my sunshine girl. We will miss you.

Something finally done!

2010-06-26T12:47:00.007-05:00

It feels like forever since I finished something! Here is a little baby quilt I made for a friend's new little boy. He is actually 6 weeks old today, so I am a little late finishing this project. I got a little waylayed in May with everything that went on.
The inspiration was here. The person that made this one, however did hand applique. I don't have that kind of time, so I did machine applique. I apologize for the poor pictures. My camera always seems to capture this color of blue weird. It always looks greener than it actually is. It is really more of a baby blue bordering on aqua.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Boogit N Lulus Fabric Corner

2010-06-24T08:21:00.002-05:00

I started a new page to list my extra fabric for sale. Check it out at Boogit N Lulu's Fabric Corner From time to time I order fabric by the bolt. Sometimes I have extra that I do not plan to use, so I'll list it for sale at Boogit N Lulu's. This is high quality cotton fabric new from the bolt. I currently have 3 prints available from Studio E fabrics.

Does your car need a quilt?

2010-06-19T19:36:00.002-05:00

This gave me a giggle today. Is this what happens when you run out of people to give them to? :)

Have a great weekend!

Great Photography!

2010-06-16T17:42:00.003-05:00

Here is a link to some pictures of my step-great nephews done by Angela Weedon of Dallas, TX. My brother's wife has a daughter from her first marriage and these are her boys. So very cute!

The greatest little doodads ever!

2010-06-14T18:21:00.004-05:00

Five words....Little Genie Magic Bobbin Washers. Fabulous! First time ever meander quilting without a single bobbin issue!

WIP

2010-06-08T16:50:00.004-05:00

Here is a little project I got a bit way-laid on. I apologize that this isn't the greatest picture. I snapped it quick in my living room. My inspiration is here. I am hoping to finish it very soon. I am debating a white border on it. It seems large for a baby quilt already, but it also seems sort of long and narrow. Right now it is 32x52. Would you add any border to it? Should I leave it as is, or maybe just do a couple of strips down the sides and leave the ends as they are. For some reason it looked more square on paper, LOL. I am also debating a backing fabric. Thinking of maybe backing it with minkee or flannel since it is a baby quilt. Not sure how the minkee would quilt, though. So furry and stretchy, you know? Kinda don't enjoy working with that stuff, but it does make for a nice baby blankee. Or maybe just more of the blue dots?

Pondering...

2010-06-02T20:02:00.003-05:00

Recent events in my life have caused me to really want to step back and evaluate how I am spending my time and energy. Am I really doing anything that matters? How am I touching the lives of other people? Do I want to continue selling my kids clothes? How do I find a balance in all that I want to and/or should be doing? Do I take a break from selling to do other things for a while?

The answer is that I don't have an answer.

I really love making kids clothes and selling them and I am finally starting to build a bit of a following which has taken a long time and a lot of effort. I have finally begun to actually sell a few things. Do I then put all of that on hiatus and risk losing what I have worked to build?

At the same time, I feel like it is stealing all of the time that I want to put into other things. Other creative efforts like knitting and crocheting and quilting have really taken a back seat. I really want to experiment with photography a bit, too. Projects that I have wanted to do around my house have been put off indefinitely because I feel like I "need" to keep up with all of these ebay launches in order to keep my stuff out there. I want to have time to make things for charities and to donate to different causes, but I feel like all of this time is sucked up, too.

I have been pondering the idea of natural gifts like the ability to be creative and spiritual gifts as defined in Scripture and wondering how to really combine the two. Both are God given and it just seems that they should work in conjunction with each other, but I haven't figured out what that means or how to do that yet. I don't know if I ever will, but it bears exploring. I definitely think that God as the Master Creator, though, would scrutinize every element of His creation, just as an artist or a designer would do to make deliberate choices of things that work together in a particular composition. I just haven't figured out how mine work together yet. I think if I ever do, I will have more answers to the questions that I have been pondering.

A gift for Isabel

2010-06-01T19:13:00.005-05:00

First of all I want to apologize for my extended absence. Life has really thrown me some curves over the last year or so and my blogging has really been sporadic at best. At times I have felt that I just have nothing interesting to say, other times I have intended to share things, but been just too busy with other things, and at other times I just have been too emotionally drained to feel like blogging. It has certainly been a time both of opportunity and challenge.

Most recently the challenge that I have had to face is the death of my mother. She passed away on May 12th after an extended period of ill health. I am torn between missing her terribly, and rejoicing that she is no longer suffering and is in the presence of Jesus. Something that is truly beyond extraordinary.

My mom was a giver. It was part of her nature from the get go. She loved to make guests welcome in her home. Whenever us kids came home, she wanted everything to be perfect for us. She loved to give gifts to people. She loved to crochet and did some sewing as well. She is the one who taught me how to sew when I was in junior high. She always tried to have hand crocheted baby gifts on hand. She usually always had one boy and one girl gift ready to go for the next new arrival. In her last few years, even though it became increasingly difficult for her, she still tried to bless each new baby with a hand crocheted gift. The dress you see at the top of this post is her last effort to crochet a gift. It was intended for a little baby girl named Isabel. Mom's health was declining rapidly when she began work on this dress. She told me many times about how she was struggling to finish it. She was worried that she would never finish it and that little Isabel would never receive the dress. It was evident that this was really a concern for her.

Mom never got to finish the dress.

I took it upon myself to make sure that this wish of my mom's came true. Mom had nearly finished all of it. There was only the last couple of inches of the skirt and part of the sleeves that weren't done. She came to a point where she just didn't have the presence of mind to be able to follow the pattern correctly. It was almost like she knew I would finish it, though. She had made notations on the pattern as to where she had left off.

So, Teresa and Isabel, this post is for you. Know that a lot of love went into this gift.

Amazing Inspiration...

2010-04-18T10:01:00.003-05:00

Kyle Bryant is an amazing young man. Kyle is affected with the same neuro-muscular disease that my niece Allison struggles with. Kyle is a cyclist and uses his passion to inspire others, raise FA awareness, and fund research. Below is an news feature that was done by Channel 5 in Atlanta. FARA (The Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance) is a fabulous organization. I have worked with them on a couple of occasions and I really strongly support them. Everyone who works there has somehow been affected personally by FA. Everyone there really has a heart for finding a cure for it because it is for someone they love. Everyone I have encountered has been very down to earth and very dedicated to the cause. You can find out more at www.curefa.org or www.rideataxia.org

Check it out!

2010-04-01T16:05:00.002-06:00

Randi from I Have To Say is having a sale in her fabric shop on Etsy.
http://www.ihavetosay.typepad.com/randi/2010/03/spring-cleaning-sale-20-off-and-a-giveaway.html

Birthday Party Launch!

2010-03-14T14:49:00.002-06:00

Blossom St and Guests are having a Birthday party! Come on over to Ebay and join us! Just search BlossomSt to see all the fun things that have been listed!
Here is my addition to the launch!

Messing with the GIMP

2010-03-11T18:55:00.003-06:00

Lately I have been playing around with GIMP. I have been looking for backgrounds and textures and graphics to use with my auctions and such. Problem is, most of the ones I find have stipulations that they cannot be used for anything other than personal scrapbooking pages. That doesn't help me. SO, I decided to mess around with GIMP and see what I could come up with. I think it turned out pretty cool so far. I threw some pictures in from Jason's brother and his wife's visit last summer. The hard part is making all the little flowers and decorative gizmos to go along with the paper. The papers are easy. So far I've made a flower and a button. LOL What do you think?

Monkey Cake!

2010-03-06T21:00:00.005-06:00

First of all I have to apologize for the recent lack of posting here at the blog. I've been rather sickly for the last month or so and therefore have not accomplished much, nor felt like blogging that much. Darn winter colds.... blech.

Anyway...
We have some friends who have a little boy who recently had a pseudo birthday... he's a leap day baby. We meet at their house for our small group for church every week, so the last one before his birthday I took this cake so we could have some birthday cake for him. He's just turning two, and was a little confused that it was a monkey and a cake at the same time. He was a little concerned when we started cutting into it. Once he realized that it was cake, then he was fine. :)

I did also finish an appliqued dress with lollipops on it that I sold on ebay in my first go round, which, to me, was AMAZING!

I'm slowly getting back into the sewing room and beginning to work on some other things. I just haven't had a lot of time and when I have had the time, I have not had the energy. Hopefully I can shake this darn cold and get back to myself soon.

Empty Bowls

2010-02-27T15:50:00.003-06:00

A couple of weeks ago my hubby Jason and I went and glazed some bowls at a local "paint your own pottery" place. The bowls are a donation for this event . Today my MIL and I went to paint more bowls for the same thing and I got to see the ones we did a couple of weeks ago and how they looked after they had been fired.
Here is the one that J did.

and here is the one that I did

It was really a lot of fun! I really didn't expect Jason to go for the idea, but he jumped in with both feet and really enjoyed it. In fact we are thinking about going back and doing some bowls to keep for ourselves sometime. :)

Fabric Goodnes....

2010-02-13T09:58:00.002-06:00

I recently decided to take the plunge and registered for an account with Studio E fabrics.
Here are my first 3 bolts! I can hardly wait to cut into them!

Now.... what to make first?

Heartbroken...

2010-01-26T19:41:00.002-06:00

The events of the past few weeks in Haiti have been constantly on my mind. My heart is broken for the children who are lost and hurting and confused and possibly mourning the death of one or more parent, and almost certainly someone that they know, a friend or relative. We looked at possibly adopting a child from Haiti a few years ago and realized that we just do not have the financial resources to make that happen, so that may be part of the reason I am so torn apart for these children. I read a statistic recently where it said that the number of orphans was expected to jump from around 380,000 to over 1 million because of these earthquakes. Nearly quadruple. This would constitute approximately one ninth of the entire population. I can't even fathom that.
I was recently made aware of an organization called Churches Helping Churches. It was formed just a couple of weeks ago specifically to help churches in Haiti to begin to rebuild, and to help the families in the churches to begin to pull their lives back together. The following video is incredible. It is a difficult watch, but so very worth it. It is a sermon given by Mark Driscoll who is one of the pastors at Mars Hill Church in Seattle. He is also one of the founders of Churches Helping Churches. I urge you to take the time to watch even though it is difficult and does take about an hour and a half. It certainly put a lot of things into perspective for me.

What a production....

2010-01-23T20:14:00.003-06:00

Sheesh...
You'd think with this much lighting....

You'd think my pictures would come out looking better than this...

Any of you photographer types got any suggestions for me? This is the only spot in my house that has any natural light to speak of, and it's January in Minnesota, cold, icky, snowy and rainy outside. I need help!

Craft Hope for Haiti

2010-01-17T20:39:00.002-06:00

I thought I would post this for those of you who might be interested. Craft Hope has set up a special Etsy shop to benefit Doctors Without Borders. The money raised will go to help those impacted by the devastating earthquakes in Haiti. The instructions for those who would like to donate are listed here. I decided to donate a boys lounge set that I made earlier this fall.

One Block Wonder...

2010-01-11T07:18:00.002-06:00

I finally started a One Block Wonder quilt. I have been thinking about doing one of these for a couple of years now, so I finally bought the book, found a fabric that would work and started cutting. I think this is going to be fun! Not only is every hexagon unique because of the way that the fabric is cut, but there are three options for every one as well! I can't wait to start sewing and see what happens!

Fabulous Friday blogs...

2010-01-07T18:48:00.004-06:00

I've decided to post some links to other blogs that I have found and enjoy reading. I can't guarantee that I'll be able to do this every week, but I will try and do this occasionally on Fridays.
This weeks pick is Blue Cupcake. Just look at these awesome cupcakes!

Puppy pattern

2010-01-06T16:56:00.003-06:00

I have had several inquiries over the past couple of years as to what pattern I used for the stuffed puppies that I have made and blogged about here, here, here, and here.

I thought I'd share what pattern I used for these cute little pups here in case there were any others who wanted to know what pattern to use. The pattern is by McCalls. Number M4893. You should be able to find it in your local fabric store. I bought mine at JoAnn's.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-02T21:39:00.004-06:00

How did you spend your New Years Eve/Day?
I spent my New Years Eve with friends, playing "Rock Band" and hanging out and eating wayyyy to much.

I spent my New Year's Day knitting my first pair of socks which I started on the day after Christmas.

Puppy PJs

2009-12-28T18:33:00.002-06:00

Here is the "lounge set" that I made for my niece who would rather play with dogs than dolls. Forgive how big it is on my manni. My manni is a size 3, this set is made for an 8 year old.

2009-12-25T07:34:00.000-06:00

Monkeys for Miss Mady...

2009-12-19T06:25:00.004-06:00

I have been working on these dresses for my nieces for Christmas. I bought the pattern for them from You Can Make This.

Purple monkeys for Mady and her dolly

And blue and brown with flowers for miss Claire.

Now, to finish a lounge set for Lexi and I will be DONE sewing for Christmas!

MIA

2009-12-01T21:36:00.003-06:00

I feel like I have just been MIA from my blog lately. I apologize for that. I really have not finished anything noteworthy in a while now. I have just been experimenting with random little projects.

First I made a couple of hot pads for my kitchen.

I think there might be something subconscious going on because I picked these plates out about 12 years ago. See how they match perfectly, even though that was not my intent. It's a little scary.

And then.... I knit my cell phone a sweater. I'm thinking about putting some of these in my etsy shop. It will fit an iPod, too.

Tonight I have been working on an order for some kitchen dishcloths. I have 7 of 10 made except for weaving in the ends. They went a lot faster than I expected so I am excited about that.
I have a few Christmas gifts that I need to get started on. I am making dresses with matching doll dresses for my nieces in Texas and a pair of flannel pants and an appliqued t-shirt for my other niece. I got most of the dresses cut out last night. I hope to get them sewn together over the weekend.

And the winners are....

2009-11-04T18:46:00.002-06:00

Mary for the scraps
and
Quiltermom2 for the Christmas fabric!
Congrats!
Please send me your contact information so that I can get these out in the mail to you!
ljlehn (at) charter (dot) net

So have you seen this?

2009-11-02T21:19:00.001-06:00

This is crazy!

De-Stashing Giveaway.....

2009-10-31T10:42:00.003-06:00

As you may recall, back in June I was given a knitting machine by a family friend. I have enjoyed it a lot. I recently went back to Illinois for a visit. While I was there, the sweet lady who gave me the machine, gave me all the accessories to go with it. She also gave me literally about 35 years worth of patterns. I don't even know how to use all of it yet. I hope to go and have another lesson one of these days. My problem is that my little sewing room is busting at the seams (no pun intended, lol). I have absolutely no space for everything that I have, plus all the new stuff, too. Therefore I am on a mission to de-stash and try and de-clutter this tiny little room. That said, I plan to give some of the stuff away on my blog here. I am also looking for a charity that might take some of the items. I have some fabric, some floral crafting stuff and a few other odds and ends. I might even go through my pattern stash and thin it out some, too.
So....
for the first giveaway, I have these two pieces of Christmas fabric that I will be giving away. They are both just short of 1 yard in length, 100% cotton. I had preshrunk these pieces at one point in time. I have had them in my stash for years. I was going to make skirts out of them, but grew tired of making skirts so these sort of fell by the wayside. I will give them both away together to the same person. Still plenty of time to use them for this Holiday season.

Secondly I have this pile of snippets. They are all random sizes, colors and fabrics. I have NOT sorted through them. Most are quilters cottons, but some are not. Most of them are smaller than 2 inches in size. Some will be so small that they are not useable. Like I said, I just tossed them all in a bin as I worked on different projects and I have not sorted them. They would be great for something like Amandajean's Ticker Tape quilt or Mini Ticker Tape quilt. I just do not have the time or the energy to deal with them, nor the space to store them. I would say that they would all fit into a large shoe box, if that helps you know how much there is.

So to win all you have to do is enter... :0) Just leave me a reply to this post and indicate which giveaway you are interested in, either the Christmas fabrics or the scraps. I will draw a winner randomly for each on Tuesday, Nov 3.

Snowflakes and Fruitcakes.....

2009-10-27T07:25:00.003-06:00

The BCheeky group launch "Snowflakes and Fruitcakes" started yesterday.
I listed several simple Christmas skirts starting at $9.99 each and this OOAK set as well!

Finished Claire's Birthday dress....

2009-10-13T20:51:00.003-05:00

I got a bit of a late start on it, but here it is. Now to get it in the mail....

2009-10-05T17:07:00.002-05:00

Here are the pictures from the quilt show. There were between 500 and 600 quilts there. This is only a small sampling. There were some really amazing quilts there. One lady had three different quilts there that were made from counted cross stitch patterns. She uses the patterns and replicates each box on the pattern with a 1/2 inch square of fabric. The one I have pictured here has over 62,000 squares in it. It was massive! Another had over 30,000 and the other over 6000.

Sorry for the lack of posting...

2009-10-03T08:23:00.002-05:00

I apologize for the sporadic posting lately. Let's just say that my personal life has been a bit of a roller coaster ride of ups and downs for the last couple of months. I am hoping things will begin to settle down soon and maybe I can get back to posting a little more regularly. It just seems like it has been one thing after the other here lately.

Today my MIL and I are going to a quilt show. I am really looking forward to that. We went a couple of years ago and it was amazing! I will try and take some pictures if my camera cooperates.

New Adventures on Ebay

2009-09-20T20:13:00.002-05:00

I am trying something new at ebay. I am going to start listing some of the things that I have made on my knitter. I have so many ideas for so many different things to try and make that it isn't even funny. I hate putting it away to get out the sewing machine these days, LOL.
Here is the first thing I have listed. We shall see how it goes.

You ever just have one of those days?

2009-09-19T08:08:00.002-05:00

You ever have those days where you wish you could have just skipped most of the events of that day? I had one of those yesterday....
Blargh...

The bomb!!!!

2009-09-12T21:35:00.003-05:00

Have you tried Caron's Spa yarn? If you haven't, then you must! I am simply in love with this little cardigan that I made on the knitting machine! This yarn knitted up beautifully! It has just a tiny bit of a sheen to it. It is INCREDIBLY soft, so it has a really nice drape and it blocks well to boot! The only thing I haven't done is throw my swatch in the wash and the dryer to see how it fares. I have high hopes, though since it has performed so wonderfully so far.
I am sooo in love with how this little cardigan turned out! It was a bit of an experiment for me. I took a pattern for a 3-6 month size (the same pattern as my last post) and increased the yarn size and then dialed the tension all the way out. I changed the way I did the crochet around the neck and down the front this time so that it has a tie instead of buttons. I couldn't find buttons I liked to go with it, so I did this instead. I like the simplicity of it. I really want to try and see if I can figure out how to increase the size. That sounds like a lot of math and that makes my head hurt, but I think I can do it. I think this one is about a 2 or 3T size. I need to measure it and see where it is in relation to the size measurement chart I have.

Nutty for knitting....

2009-09-01T18:25:00.003-05:00

I have discovered a new addiction...

A knitting machine! :) I was very generously given this knitting machine by a family friend when I was down in Illinois visiting my family in June. I had my first lesson on it Saturday before last and I think I am hooked! I have been experimenting with it ever since. I made a couple of sample pieces, and a couple of dishcloths and then attempted my first pattern. I made this baby sweater from a free pattern I found on the internet. I think it turned out soooo cute! I had three of the sweetest little buttons in my stash which worked perfectly for it. I will be donating it at church. I could see myself cranking out a bunch more of these in all sorts of colors. It is made with Red Heart's Luster Sheen yarn. I am now attempting to alter the sizing of this pattern by using a different yarn and a looser tension. For this on I am using Caron's Spa yarn which is an acrylic/bamboo blend. It is knitting up SO beautifully! It is wonderfully soft and has just a bit of a sheen to it. I have so many ideas running through my head now, LOL. I want to just experiment with all of them, but.... I do have some sewing I need to do, and unfortunately, they don't both fit on my sewing desk at the same time. Sigh...I guess I will have to pack her up for a couple of weeks while I finish the sewing I need to do.

Feeling Owly...

2009-08-18T21:30:00.002-05:00

I am in LOVE with the little owls in this set!
I just listed it on ebay

BCheeky Halloween Launch

2009-08-10T19:37:00.002-05:00

The BCheeky Halloween launch starts today. Search bcheeky on ebay to see all the designs!
Here is what I listed.
It is a OOAK feliz dress in a size 3-4

Sorry I have been a bit absent lateley...

2009-08-05T12:58:00.002-05:00

I have been a little busy. I finished a new dress for the B*Cheeky Halloween Boo-tique launch coming up next week. We have also had company from out of state for the last few days. My husband's brother who lives in Texas and his wife and two little girls came to visit. We had a wonderful time playing games and playing at the lake and going to the flower gardens. I also had my cat to the vet yesterday for some tests. She is so hard to handle at the vet that they had to sedate her. She was still pretty loopy when she came home yesterday and I made the mistake of picking her up. Word to the wise, don't ever pick up a frightened disoriented cat. She bit me, and she bit me good. My finger was all swollen this morning so I went to the Dr and got an antibiotic. I want to sew this afternoon, but I'm not sure how good that's going to work. I'm gonna give it a try, though. LOL.

Here are a few pics from the weekend.

Meet Minnie....

2009-07-30T20:01:00.002-05:00

Minnie the new manneqin! Isn't she cute? And following the old seamstress tradition, I had to give her a name. Her name is Minnie because she is small. She is a child size 3/4. I think we are going to be good friends, she and I. :)

Relisted....

2009-07-28T13:41:00.001-05:00

Just relisted
Search ebay for bcheeky for other great finds!

Wow!

2009-07-26T08:11:00.002-05:00

That's really about all I can say about this.
This launch has really attracted a lot of attention.
I can't deny that these outfits are very well made, a lot of time and effort and cash went into them. They are obviously selling. My question is, who buys this stuff? I mean, I can't see a kid really wearing this and getting the money out of it.
I think I must be way too practical or something.

Postage Stamp Update

2009-07-19T18:40:00.003-05:00

I worked on the postage stamp quilt most of the day today. So far I have 28 16 patch blocks finished. The blocks will finish at 8 inches. So far I am liking how it looks. I am getting a little tired of cutting all the little squares for it, though. And of course, the inspector has to give her approval. :0)

I am very honored!

2009-07-15T18:56:00.003-05:00

I have been accepted to the b*cheeky boutique design group! I have to admit that it is going to be a real challenge to keep up with all of the goings on, but I am going to give it my best shot. I am very honored to have been invited to join this great bunch of designers.

Now, I'm off to get busy sewing so that I can jump in with both feet soon! LOL

I love postage stamps...

2009-07-12T09:17:00.004-05:00

Postage stamp quilts that is. So I decided to start my own, only I'm not crazy enough to do 1.5 inch squarers. I'm using 2.5 inch ones instead. I am trying to let this one just be random. I am not thinking about palette or fabric pairings or anything like that. Anything goes. This is really hard for my brain which loves organization, so I think everything has to have some sort of pattern all the time. I decided that I just have wayyyyyyyyyyyyy toooooooooo manyyyyyyyyyyy scrapsssssssss! LOL I just need a way to use up a bunch of them without having to worry about,"well this fabric doesn't go with anything else so I guess I won't use it this time". None of that. I half considered cutting up ALL of my scraps into 2.5 inch squares, and however big this thing winds up is how big it will be. I soon realized that that could take me a very long time to cut them all up and that quilt might be big enough to cover the entire state, so I decided to just cut random fabrics as I go. LOL I just grab a hunk and cut a bunch of squares. Then I grab another hunk and cut that up, too. I'm not counting how many I cut, I'm just cutting until I'm done with that piece and then I grab something else. When I get a bunch cut, then I go and add them to the pile, mix it up some more and chain piece for a while until I feel like I need different fabrics. Then I go cut some more. I have no plan as to how big I want to make this or anything. It is sort of nice to just have no plan and just run with it. It will be as big as it is when I get bored working on it, LOL. I think I might put them together in like 36 patch blocks or something before I put the whole top together. I'm not that far yet.

I also finished Amanda's birthday quilt. I had it done a while ago, but I just have been too busy to post.

New Quilt Top

2009-06-22T19:35:00.002-05:00

I am back from vacation. It was really nice to be able to spend some time with my family. I really enjoyed having some one on one sister to sister time. We had a nice time sitting on the deck with our morning tea and talking a couple of mornings. We also took a little trip to a nearby town and went to a little quilt shop there, browsed around an antique store where there were lots of old quilts and other fun things to drool over, and then had a nice little lunch, just the two of us. The trip also consisted of a visit to the zoo with my niece, my brother and my sister. All five of us kids were all home at once which has not happened in a long time. I think it meant a lot to my parents to have us all there together.

I had all of Friday after I got home to myself at home alone with my sewing machine. I love that! I got busy and put this quilt top together over the weekend. I am pretty excited about it. It went together really easily. It was a pattern from Easy Quilts magazine from earlier this spring. I am omitting the borders that it called for. It is made from 12 fat quarters and quarter yard cuts. ALL of it was from my stash except for one fat quarter. I miscut one of the fabrics I had originally picked out so I had to replace that one with something else, hence buying a fat quarter.

Cute as a Cupcake

2009-06-19T06:49:00.003-05:00

I listed this earlier this week for The Divas Magical Celebration Launch on ebay.

Thanks sooo much to my friend Niki and her little cousin for the photography!

To answer another question...

2009-06-11T18:44:00.003-05:00

Zarina asked me what books I have used that have been helpful with children's sewing, so I thought I'd take a post and answer that question.

First of all, let me say that I am mostly self taught. My mother gave me a good foundation to build on by teaching me how to follow a pattern and about grain and bias and that sort of thing. Most of what I have learned has come from experimentation, trial and error and reading tips in various places.

Two books that I found helpful are out of print these days, but can likely be found used or maybe in your library. They are both by Kitty Benton. One is called "Classic Designs for Today's Active Children" and the other is "Sewing Classic Clothes for Children". I also had a subscription to "Sew Beautiful" magazine for a while. There are a lot of good tips in there and they have wonderful instructions for the free patterns that are in each issue. There are soooo many beautiful things for children in the pages of that magazine.

I have recently happened upon a couple of internet sites that look quite promising, too. I have ordered one pattern from youcanmakethis.com and I have to say it was pretty slick. You pay for the pattern, download the PDF and print off whatever size you need. It does involve some taping, but I found that the pattern went together pretty easily. The one I ordered came with a boatload of variations and very easy to follow instructions.

I have also been looking at The Children's Fashion Workshop lately. I have not ordered from there as it doesn't seem that they have anything that I don't already have at home already, but it does look interesting. They have basic block patterns that they sell for a certain price and then you can purchase lessons for different modifications of those patterns. The disadvantage that I see as a designer is that each size must be purchased separately. As a designer, I would much rather see a set of sizes offered together.

I have purchased slopers (basic patterns without seam allowances) from this company and found them to be very accurate in size and a great company to work with. The prices are reasonable, especially if you buy several sizes at once. The shipping was fast, too. They also have junior and adult sizes and you can even have your sloper customized to your measurements if you wish.

There are also a ton of wonderful tutorials online at different places. There is no way I could link to all of them, but a Google search will turn up several for you.

******************************

And now for something completely different....

Have you ever had those projects that SHOULD be simple and straightforward, but for some reason they just seem fraught with problems from the start? That has been what I have dealt with for the past week or so. So much so that I just feel like setting the whole thing ablaze! A simple skirt and peasant blouse have been the bane of my existence for the last week. UGGG It's probably because I set myself too short a deadline and I am trying to do it too fast. Maybe this will end up up for sale, and maybe it won't we shall see. I thought I had it done, but then it didn't fare the washing too well, so I had to figure out something different to fix that problem.

And I also wanted to let you all know that I will be out of town starting on Saturday for about the next 5 days. I am going to visit family in Illinois, so I probably won't be posting much while I am gone, if at all.
Hope you all have a great week!

Just to answer a few questions I have received lately...

2009-06-06T06:21:00.002-05:00

For kristies: Thank you for your kind words. The pattern I used for this dress is a commercially available pattern from Farbenmix called "Feliz"
You can purchase it here or here. I'm sure it can also be found elsewhere on line, as well.
There is a wonderful "feliz sew-along" here if the instructions are a bit confusing. I didn't find them to be terribly bad, just a little lacking in detail since they were translated from German. The sew-along is in several parts. She used to have the links on the sides of the page but it looks like she removed them. If you start at the page I linked to and then just scoll to the bottom of each page and click on "newer post" it should lead you through the pages.
I made little A's dress from fabric that I purchased at my local Joann's Fabrics. There were two pink prints that I used for the overdress and the ruffles in the back and a solid pink for the body of the underdress and ruffle. I trimmed the overdress with a larger yellow rick rack and put a couple of decorative buttons on the pocket. The pocket pattern is not included, I just made that up myself. It's basically just a square with rounded off corners at the bottom. I made it with two pieces. I put them right sides together and went around the sides and bottom. Turned it, tucked the top edge in and pressed it and then topstitched it together. Then I just put it on the front like any other patch pocket. It does help, if you are putting a pocket in the front, to do it before you start sewing the overdress pieces together. Less fabric under your machine will make it easier to sew.
Have fun, and post pictures when you finish them for your twins!
And for the Anonymous person whose daughter is desperately in need of skirts with pockets :) I hope to plan a couple more skirt tutorials in the future and I promise to include pockets in at least one of them. I've been a little busy lately and have not had time to actually write the tutorials. I probably won't get them done for a little while, but please know they are in the works.
Hope you all have a great weekend!

What a wonderful world...

2009-06-03T21:27:00.004-05:00

I took a walk with my camera this evening. I often think that I am going to do so, and rarely do. I have just been experimenting with the manual settings on it and seeing what happens. I am blessed to live near a small pond with a nice little walking path that encircles it. I was amazed at the variety of shapes and unexpected colors that I found within just a quarter mile of my house.
Who knew that grass seed could be such a vibrant purple? It truly is a wonderful world that our loving Creator has sculpted and painted for us. Here are a few of my favorites.

Garden Party Damask

2009-05-31T08:29:00.005-05:00

GARDEN PARTY DAMASK

My newest set on ebay for the Haute Couture for Kids 3rd Annual Runway Launch. You can click on the picture to go to the auction.
Many thanks to Jacqueline (amawhitmom) and Amanda from Petite Cover Girls for the modeling and photography!

Noteworthy links...

2009-05-28T18:52:00.002-05:00

Hannah Bella Princess
My favorite boutique auction of the week.
I think this is absolutely stunning!
It makes me want to make another Feliz dress like it for someone, I have the same decorative stitch on my machine and a very similar blue print fabric in my stash...
Just gorgeous!

What I HAVE decided to make is a few skirts for Sewing Seeds. These little skirts will go to needy children in Costa Rica.
Find out more about it at "I have to say..."

Randi is also doing a giveaway to celebrate one year of being in business for herself. She sells delicious fabrics on Etsy under the name Fresh Squeezed Fabrics.

Week 4, Week 5 and part of Week 6

2009-05-25T13:41:00.003-05:00

I went a little overboard this weekend with the nine patches.
Here is week 4

Here is week 5

Here is most of week 6

And here is all of them together so far.

I can't decide if I am going to do the full 70 blocks or not. I love that it would be a nice size quilt, BUT... I don't really have room to sandwich a quilt that large. It would also be a bit difficult to quilt on my machine, too. I am thinking I might stop at 49, then it would be 7 X 7 and would be about 5.5 feet square. I'm not sure yet. I could actually do two more nine patches at this point and it could be 7 x 6 and that wouldn't be bad either. It would be about 58 x 66. That's a pretty decent lap size. Hmm... that's a thought.

Happy 18th Alli!

2009-05-23T19:48:00.003-05:00

My niece Allison is 18 today! Happy birthday sweetie! We love you lots!

It's nice to not have deadlines....

2009-05-22T19:10:00.002-05:00

It has been really nice to not feel stressed by having deadlines that I need to meet.
I finally got the outfit done for the Haute Couture for Kids runway launch finished and off to the model and photographer about a week ago. I am very anxiously awaiting the pictures! I'll have to post some of them when I get them.
Now, I have no real pressing deadlines for any of my projects which means I can just sew at my own pace and enjoy the process. I have been working on more nine patch blocks for the quilt a long. I have a couple more to go to be caught up for Monday, but that should be easily doable this weekend. I also started cutting some fabric for a new project as well. I know, I need to finish up some old projects. I'm not doing so great with the finishing one old for every one new project that I start. I really need to buckle down on some of the old projects and get them done. I swear I have sewing ADD. LOL :)
I have been poking around Facebook some this week as well. I have added some friends that I knew from high school. It is sort of fun to reconnect, but it is a little weird, too. We are all very much different people than we were then.
I have a three day weekend this weekend and I am looking forward to not really doing a whole lot of anything. Just taking each day as it comes and doing whatever. It has been a little crazy at work this week. We have had people out sick all week and therefore have been short staffed. I am looking forward to a weekend without craziness. Jason and I are going to watch movies tonight. Tomorrow, I think I will do a little house cleaning and the laundry and of course some sewing. Sunday we are going out to dinner to celebrate our nephew, Andrew's birthday which is today, and my birthday which is Sunday. Monday I have absolutely no plans! :)

I hope you all have a restful weekend! I'm going to try to do the same.

Week 3 check in....

2009-05-17T19:29:00.003-05:00

Here are my blocks for week 3 of Amanda's One-a-Day nine patch quilt-a-long.
I have a start on next week's as well, but we will save the pictures of those for next week. :)

Special Sale at my Website and Etsy!

2009-05-09T08:56:00.004-05:00

I am running a special sale at my website and at my Etsy shop this month to benefit FARA (the Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance). The sale will run through the end of May in honor of my niece, Allison's 18th birthday. 100% of the purchase price of any item will be donated. Those of you who have read my blog in the past know that my niece is afflicted with this disorder and I have a personal mission to do what I can, when I can.

Friedreich's Ataxia is a rare degenerative neuro-muscular disorder that effects 1 out of every 50,000 people. It causes the loss of motor coordination, loss of mobility, slurred speech, curvature of the spine, heart damage and sometimes diabetes, deafness, blindness, and swallowing difficulties. Currently treatments are limited and no cure exists.

Recent research has yielded promising results for the future! Effective treatments and possibly even a cure could come in the very near future!

I have linked a video below which talks about FARA and their mission to fund research and promote awareness of FA.

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Week 2

2009-05-04T16:53:00.005-05:00

Ok, I know I am getting ahead, believe me, it is probably a good thing because I know that I will fall behind at some point. LOL

Crazy Mom and her Quilt-a-longs....

2009-05-01T07:30:00.000-05:00

My good friend Amanda is doing a one-a-day quilt-a-long over at her blog. I have to say that I am going to try and keep up, but I make no guarantees. Some weeks I only get a couple of evenings at my machine and I do have other projects that I HAVE to get done by a certain date. This seems like a fairly simple quilt-a-long, though. Just simple scrappy nine patch blocks. One per day. Lord knows I have plenty of scraps. :) I really would like to use up a bunch of them. I sometimes feel as though they will one day plot to take over the world. I am pretty sure that they multiply in those bins over night, too. LOL I hereby declare that unless it is really, really needed to finish a project, I will buy no fabric during the month of May and will only use fabric that I currently have on hand, be it scraps or stash.
Here are the first seven blocks for the first week.

Last weekend I did some more organizing in my sewing room, and the crazy cat did it again. This drawer was empty (and closed mind you) and she was sniffing around by it and the next time I looked over, this is what I saw...

Such a crazy nut!