Happy Birthday Celeste!

Today was my friend Celeste's birthday, and to celebrate she hosted a day full of giveaways on her blog. There's lots of great stuff over there, so go check it out, enter a giveaway...or two...or nineteen :) and wish her a happy birthday! And while you're there you may just see a giveaway by yours truly! That's right, win your choice of a Bailey Brooke Designs dog collar here. Good luck!

Blanket Drama

Wow, has it really been over 2 months since I blogged one single thing? Bad blogger! Well the truth is, the special little girl in my life I keep mentioning, and her dad, have been taking up most of my time, and not much sewing has been getting done lately. At the same time I'm not complaining though. But it would be nice if there were like 5-10 extra hours in a day, or rather during nap/bed time. Ha!

So remember the last ribbon blanket I made with the new soft and fluffy fabric?

I loved it when I first made it. Then the little one took it to school and out and about and loved it well and I quickly learned to DESPISE that fabric. It picks up every piece of lint, fuzz, wood chips, EVERYTHING and doesn't let it go no matter how you try to wash it/remove the little buggers. So I finally got out my trusty seam ripper and replaced the pretty pink fluffy fabric with minky. I had to sacrifice color and go with green, but it's just to much more practical. Luckily she likes it just as much.

Well about a week after that more drama happened with the little blanket. We took it to the zoo with us, and apparently left the zoo without it. We found out at bed time that it was no where to be found, but in all honesty I think I was more upset than she was. Luckily some kind soul out there reminded me there is still some good left in humanity, and they turned it in to the lost & found. We were all very happy when we saw it again. In the mean time, I decided to make another one, just in case, and because they are fun to make, and because she loves them so much. Here it is.

I also made some serious progress on my first ever quilt, but I think I will keep you guessing on that one for now and make it a post of its own at a later date. For now I seem to have suddenly realized that I have a few projects that I just don't want to do (they just aren't "fun" enough!) stacking up and they have a deadline of less than a month from now. I better get busy!

P.S. I will be doing a giveaway on a friend's blog in a few more days, so check back for that if you would like the chance to win a collar!

Spring is in the air

I am happy to say I finished up my Easter craft before Easter, though just barely. I took a few sewing classes with a friend and one of the projects was these Easter egg placemats. They were pretty simple and used a quilt-as-you-go technique. I liked it. All 4 of them are scrappy and different and add some nice color to our white table.



I also made another blanket for that special girl in my life. I was honestly scared of the minky/satin combination and the slippery, stretchy nature of those two fabrics, especially paired with each other. Thank God for my walking foot is all I can say. It was a lifesaver and made the project a lot less stressful. This was also my first time doing mitered corners and I was pretty pleased with how the whole thing turned out. Everything would have looked more "crisp" if I would have made it out of a material like flannel, but this little girl much prefers the softness of minky and satin. I can't say I blame her. She immediately snuggled up to it when I gave it to her and it made my heart melt yet again. I used this tutorial from Melanie at Fabric Family Fun and it was great.



I was told this was crafty too so I thought I would include it as well (even though my toes are grossing me out the longer I look at the picture). I bought a package of stylus tools for $3.99 (before the 40% off coupon) at Hobby Lobby. And used them to create some nail art for my toes. The nail art is always my favorite part about having a pedicure (the 2 times in my life I've had one) but darn is it expensive! So I experimented until I could come up with something I could do myself. A simple google search provides some tutorials for different designs as well.





And there you have it. I hope you all have a great Easter weekend!

Catching up

I've decided I'm just not that good at blogging right now. Life has been busy, and I was pretty sick for a while and I just haven't been crafting all that much. It's past due time to catch up a little though.

I made this cupcake ribbon blanket for a special little girl in my life right now. It makes me so happy every time I see her snuggle up with it. I used a soft, fluffy fabric I have never used before on the back instead of minky, and I have to say I really like it.

My grandma saw a purse she really liked in a catalog, but it was much bigger than she wanted it. She asked if I could replicate it in the size she wanted using a "springy" fabric. This is what I came up with. I also made a matching checkbook cover and coin purse with the left over fabric. I shipped it to her last week and was glad to hear she absolutely loved it.


I have always wanted to try using either laminated fabric or fusible vinyl, so when I saw this tutorial by Homemade By Jill for a changing pad I decided to give it a try. It has cotton with fusible vinyl on the inside and corduroy on the outside. It folds up and velcros closed and I added my own pocket on it to hold diapers and wipes.




I've been working on a couple more projects as well but they still need some finishing touches before I take pictures. One of them is an easter project, so I am hoping to find the time and motivation to finish them in time!

Giveaway Time!

Want to win one of my collars?



My friend Amy was kind enough to feature me on her blog, and there is a free collar up for grabs!

Head on over for your chance to win! Thanks Amy!

The beautiful picture of Bailey is courtesy of DreamMaker Images. Thanks Shelly!

The contest ends Sunday, March 7th. Good luck!

Trouble

This is the kind of trouble you can get into when you go to a quilt show...

More on that later.

Life Happens

So I've been a horrible blogger lately. And my blog is boring. It happens right? I've been taking on a gigantic project of decrapifying, (thanks Sarah) decluttering, cleaning and reorganizing. I'm a keeper, I don't like to get rid of stuff, but lately I've been feeling like I'm suffocating. I have too much stuff and too little space. I've surprised even myself though and done a really good job of getting rid of things I just don't need. Since it's hard for me to do this, once I get in the mood I'm afraid to stop, thus I've had some 3 am bedtimes lately. I sill have a lot more to do, but I already feel less stressed.

Because I've been busy with that projct I haven't done a whole lot of sewing lately. Here are a couple projects I worked on recently.

First, I made this shopping bag. It's hard to tell from the picture, but it's the same size and shape as a Target bag.



The best part? It folds up into itself and becomes this little pouch that I can throw in my car or purse. I got the idea here.


My mom bought this fabric several months ago and asked me to make her 8 pillows with piping. Quite frankly I was pretty threatened by the extremely stretchy, slippery stuff and it took me forever to actually start the project. They aren't my favorite, and I hope no one looks at them too closely, but I guess they look ok in pictures, haha.

I also finally cut into my fabric for my quilt and now I can't wait to get sewing on that! I haven't even finished my first quilt and I already have a stash going and ideas for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. Guess that's what I get for not believing people when they told me quilting was addicting.

I'm in the process of posting about 20 new collar designs in my shop, so check back for that soon!

Oh Christmas Tree...

Happy 2010! I have BIG plans for this year, and am trying to stay as optimistic and excited as I can. I have big ideas and goals both for my personal life and for my sewing life/business.

So I rang in the New Year by sewing a stuffed Christmas tree. It's still not too late right? Haha.

Here is the horrible picture I took of it before packing it up with all the other Christmas decorations (so sad).

Here's to a fresh clean slate and hopes of a great year ahead of us!