A Little More Color

For those of you who get easily creeped out by the supernatural, I would like to lighten the situation with some bright, "lively" colors. Heeheehee.... Here is a glimpse at some of what I have been working on. I will show you more very soon.

These have since become blocks and now a baby quilt top. I still have to make the back and the binding. These were really radiant, fun colors to work with and I love the cute town fabric!!!

These are the unfinished front of my tooth fairy pillows.....

And the backs......

 Here is a larger quilt I am going to frame in grey. It will be a free motion quilting study, whereas each square will have a different experimental threading design.

And here is a glimpse of the first baby quilt top I made for my shop. I love using a little red! Can't wait to complete the entire quilt....

And I thought I would throw in Jared's dinosaur book he made for school. He basically studied the 7 different categories of dinosaurs and how they each differ. As one can see on the cover, he shows them all: pachycephalosaurs, ornithopods, stegasaurs, ankylosaurs, sauropods, ceratopsians, and therapods. The coolest thing about home school is that I am also learning, as well!

Have a great Friday and weekend!!!!

What's New?

Life has been crazy, as usual. Between looking ravenously for employment, vigorously catching up on home school, preparing for the long winter ahead, and consistently trying to work on items for my shop, among tons of other daily pileups, we are constantly busy around here. It is funny to think about a family farm right now. Where does one find the time? Actually, a friend of mine grew up on a family farm and she is going to teach me first hand much of what she knows (that is if I have time to go and visit with her!!). Currently, she has twenty chickens of all different breeds. She has four sons, but feels that twenty hens are too many. So, she said she wanted to give me four of them, in addition to the materials to build a chicken tractor. She said she will keep them through the winter for us. Awesome! That way, in the spring, they are more self-sustaining with their free-range abilities when there is no more snow on the ground. Thank you, Katie. Anyway, I would like to share a few things with you, aside from the above thoughts.

I have noticed there aren't too many photos of the children and I together, so, on a whim, I decided to take one of those delayed photos because there were some perfectly flat rocks on which to perch the camera at the beginning of one of our many hiking trails. I am just happy we have been making more time for hiking lately. It is good for one's soul to be in nature. :)

I had to share this photo because it is just too dang cute! In the dress-up basket, I just added Jared's old 4T formal suit worn at my best friend's wedding, knowing that Dylan can easily fit in it. The vest, the galoshes, the casual look beneath, and the priceless body language, all comes together in a fantastic look. Very Dylan, might I add. ;)

Another thing I have noticed lately is that I have very few photos of all 3 brothers together. This one is quite lovely, as they are in their element, enjoying an activity in unison, despite the age gap from 3 to 12. I love it!!! 

The other thing I will share with you briefly is our Christmas Quilt....only a sneak peek, though. Perhaps I will show the entire quilt top tomorrow, when there is daylight. It has inspired me to get going on the 5 baby quilts I am currently working on, though progress has already been made. Four quilt tops have been completed, one in progress still. Two backings and bindings are complete. All I need is a bunch of batting to complete the two and to soon complete the others. Fun!

 

I started this quilt last night and I already finished it this evening. It is better than I visualized prior to patching it together. Beautiful fabric from Connecting Threads, among the first I have ever bought new (most of my stash was from the thrift store previously).

 

Soon, I will share some of the other finished baby quilt tops and, perhaps, I will buy some batting tomorrow so I can finish some of the quilts yearning to be completed. Until then, good night. It is getting a bit late. More soon........

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Zigzag Rainbow Baby Quilt Top

This is the first baby quilt top I will share with you that, when finished, will be sold in my shop on Etsy. Yes, I know fairly recently I said I didn't feel ready to do so, but I have since refined my skills, to my own amazement. Furthermore, I am simply ready to sell my work as it unfolds. The shop will open when a few things are ready to go. Right now there are 2 finished quilt tops, 2 partially completed tops, 1 nearly done top (all for babies), and 6 tooth fairy pillows that are each 90% finished. So, here is the one that was finished this evening. The colors burst forth with the white zigzags between each color. I really enjoyed using a variety of fabrics, rather than making a uniform pattern within each zigzag. It gives it a bit more character anyway. :)

Be back with more soon.....

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~ Lucy's Baby Quilt ~

Lucy's Baby Quilt was finished on Friday, along with Liv's, just in time for Jenna's baby shower. I hand-sewed the entire binding, which is why I ended up having to use the flash in the dim light of early evening. Using the flash is not my favorite method of photographing quilts because you cannot see the lovely crinkle of the final product once washed and dried as well as when you just use the natural light. Oh well... that is what I get for procrastinating ;). I think this is my favorite quilt yet! All the ladies at the party thought it was pretty cool, too. Best of all, Jenna loved it. Success!

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~ Liv's Baby Quilt ~

I finally finished the last little bit of Liv's binding on Friday! I gave it to my cousin (Liv's mama) and both she and my ex-quilting aunt loved it. My aunt even mentioned that this quilt made her almost want to get back into quilt-making. They made me feel better about my feeling amateur through their lovely compliments. :) By the way, pardon the poor quality in the photos..it was getting later in the day and my clothesline and bedroom had low lighting. Nevertheless, enjoy.

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Starry Night At Home Quilt ~ Part 3

I have had this wall decor finished for a while now, but I haven't made the time to post the final results. It has not yet been washed either, so that may affect the results of it's final look. I last mentioned digging up some solid black in my stash, but I suprisingly have none. However, I found some solid brown that gave me a mellow, woodsy feel. When all was put together, I handstitched the mini-quilt, which was very enjoyable. Besides, there is nothing like a hand-sewn quilt.

When I created this little quilt, the theme I had in mind was a "night time at the most cozy place on Earth... home", type theme. I thought just today, though, that perhaps I could have at least made a green horizontal strip below each house to give the effect of actually sitting on the ground, but I still quite like it the way that it is. I then finished the quilt with two of the four similar fabrics used in the red door theme. It turned out brighter than expected, but I still like the glow it gives off. The finished piece measures at about 27.5" on each side. I decided to use 3 fabrics I had already used in the quilt on the hanging loops at the top. Bamboo or a wooden dowel would have worked more seamlessly, but I instead grabbed an imperfect stick outside, which I think I might like better. It certainly fits nicely in the boys' room, among the other eclectic Waldorf, thrifted, and handmade wall hangings. 

What a fantastic project to practice handsewing and the implementation of my own designs... you know, taking risks and seeing what the results end up being. What a learning experience. For instance, I now know I haven't the patience for such hand stitching on a full-sized quilt, though I truly admire those who do. I also am now quite aware that I thoroughly enjoy creating familiar images with patchwork, like these houses. To me, it is all about the process, even though final results are a wonderful perk.  :)

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Japanese Quilted Decor For a Special Lady

I was so excited about creating these quilted wall decorations for Daniel's mom as a birthday gift. She has been infatuated with Japanese culture far longer than I have known her, collecting silky kimonos, fanciful obis, gorgeous tansus and other antique furniture, assorted decor, and making kimekomi dolls, among several other additions to bringing the culture into her home. I was pleased to see her appreciation, as she opened her gift.

These ended up measuring about 9.5 x 11" and they are intended to be hung from bamboo, which she has plenty of. I truly know very little about Japanese design, but I kept playing with fabric and different asymmetrical ideas. I came up with this, starting with a piece of large patterned fabric somehow hiding in my stash, and to me, it looks pretty darn Japanese. :) This project was not only interesting because I was learning a bit about design along the way, but I also had fun practicing a couple new free motion quilting patterns.

Jared and Dylan made cards for her using what we have, and I wrapped her gifts in tissue paper and an inside-out paper bag. I finished it off with raffia ribbon, and I made a little attached card with matching fabric. It all turned out so lovely.

Daniel tells me I should make wall hangings similar to these and sell them on Etsy. I am feeling a bit overwhelmed with life right now and I feel I am too amateur at this point to feel comfortable selling pieces such as these. For now, I will practice and make gifts.

Have a great remainder of your week!

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How Shall I Arrange Lucy's Triangles?

       I am nearly done with Liv's baby quilt, having only to hand sew the backside of the binding. Also, I have to go back and finish Lucy's baby quilt. Now, I was having "sew" much fun making baby quilts for baby girls, I decided to make a second one for Lucy, using the same fabric as I used on Liv's quilt. All patches are made, but I have one small problem. I need to figure out how to arrange them. Here are a few ideas below. Let me know what you think I should do.

A Consistent Pattern Throughout of Green and Pink.

Pink and Green Diamonds.

Diagonal Stripes of Pink and Green.

Pinwheel-Style.

Pink and Green Zigzags.

There are so many more possibilities, too. Who knew triangles would lead to being so stumped. ;)

PS ~ Jenna, your opinion on the quilt is mandatory. :p

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Autumn Quilt

I have finally finished our Autumn quilt from last year! This was my second quilt ever, though you wouldn't know it because it only took a year to finally get to it and finish. I completed the binding last night, just in time to initiate Autumn. This was made from various fabrics on hand from the thrift store, a vintage pillow case, vintage sheets, and a set of cloth napkins. Pretty eclectic and resourceful, I suppose. Either way, I am really happy with how it turned out, even with lazy 12" patches. :)

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Starry Night At Home Quilt ~ Part 2

Okay, now I have completed the remaining 3 blocks! Now for perhaps some black sashing. Hmmm...let me dig through my stash and see if I even have black fabric.

This project, is super easy to design and implement. I love it!

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Starry Night At Home Quilt ~ Part 1

When finished, this small quilt will be hung in the boys' room and should measure just under 30" on all sides. There are 4 blocks, one of which is complete, and 3 of which are cut and ready for sewing. When I am done with all 4 blocks, I will make the sashing, sew it all together, create a backing and the binding, hand quilt the wall decoration, and finish off the binding. This project is super fun!! 

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Celebration and Organization

'Twas yet another thrifty birthday for our blooming 12-year-old! We had a blast in the total simplicity of the day. Actually, much of the weekend, Luke was helping his Dad with the firewood for the approaching winter, which he found to be very fulfilling. He enjoyed laboring for his birthday...hahaha!

I made the above sign the night before, and apparently I was having difficulty figuring out how many index cards I would be needing... It was late.......  Below, I prepared chocolate pancakes with fresh strawberries, blueberries, and whipped cream. He wasn't expecting that. :)

A gift, card, and envelope made by Jared.

Yum!

He really appreciated the mosaic picture frame from his brother. Yay for the dollar store and a little imagination!

This photo turned out pretty darn good considering it was super early in the morning and they had a touch of bedhead.

This weekend, I also reorganized a few areas in the house. I finally returned Daniel's desk space to him. The shelf was covered in knitting and sewing stuff before.

Out where the craft corner was, I transformed it into a simple open office space, as it should have been a while back.

I took the other desk/table into the bedroom where the two big bookshelves were before I put them into the living room. This table sits next to my small dresser. This is now my sewing/craft table. I absolutely love it!!!!!

Over where my dresser previously sat, is now the wooden cart originally from the kitchen. It is great for extra nearby shelving.

Today, I was able to use my sewing table for the first time. I made the binding for 3 different quilts! The turquoise binding will be for the 36 Patch Quilt (I couldn't wait any longer for Amanda Jean's example, so I decided on my own finishing touches), the brown floral will be for the Autumn quilt I made last year, and the pink is for Liv's baby quilt, shown on my table above.