Wednesday, July 8, 2009

leftovers.....what to do with THAT?



K so in the last post I mentioned that I had to rebuy fabric because it was my first rotary cutter experience. When I finished up I had a PILE of fabric in assorted sizes that I couldn't throw away, but weren't any good for the quilts.

So when packing things up {and stalling putting any sewing parafanalia away} I found the scraps and did a few fun things.
First of all since we are going to be in small digs {about 1/2 or less of the square footage we are living in now} I decided that throw pillows in my girls room was not going to happen. So, for fun I made them pillows, embroidered their names on them, and then put picos around the band in the fabric from the quilt. Savannah did her own picos in random sizes and sewed it with NO help {atta girl}.



The second thing I did was take a pattern from Portabello Pixie called Claire, and I chose the option of making the "Petal Dress" which is option A in the line up below ....check it out! http://www.portabellopixie.typepad.com/ Sandi Henderson has a lot of fun with what she does! She not only designed the dresses, but the fabric too! {wow!}





And just like anything else, different product from a different person, mine turned out quite a bit different, but it was a ton of fun! I will be making this from more funky fabric to celebrate getting "settled" in when we move. Hopefully I will become better at my photo skills and my pics will be cutsie too!





Man I love that kid! { she is hiding her hot pink wrap over her broken thumb - aw.}

My first quilt...


This is my first attempt at peicing a quilt, although I DID hand quilt panels some ump-teen years ago for my first children {cringe}.

After deciding to go back to school {both my husband and I} we had the most lovely surprise. LIVVY!!! Two semesters into our degrees, what we thought was impossible happened, and although we were really surprised I was also eXtAtIc! Then I found out it was a GIRL!!!

That is when I went back to sewing. I found this cute little pattern called "five n dime" and the fabric was all in a kit {how hard could it be really?} and decided that my baby was going to have a really cute hand made quilt by her Mommy.

Well reality hit and hit fast. School took up most of my time. And then when the baby arrived, school took a back seat and soon I chose to be home all of the time with my kids { yay! }. Anyway, by the time I decided to start this project, it went from a cutsie little baby quilt, to a baby quilt and a twin, to two matching twin quilts.

I made a ton of mistakes, it was my first time with a rotary cutter and had to buy more fabric {also might be the most expensive first quilts ever}.

In the end I had a lot of fun with them. I machine embroidered a block with their initials on them. I also machine quilted {on my old 73 Bernina Record} the quilt for Savannah by my lonesome and finished it about 1 hour before it was due on my professors desk as a final {arghh }. I did some fun things, like put an outline of her foot on one block and her hand on another. It was impossibly difficult, and now that Olivia's quilt top is done I am not sure if I can muster the strength to try it again. But I might because it was so personal. Who knows.


Tuesday, July 7, 2009

boxing it all up...




Three weeks and counting til I am supposed to be out of my house. It is probably time to give up the sewing, the blogging, the photos, {any and all relaxation} and work on packing boxes..... but I did manage to finish the quilt top for my matching girls quilts for their pending bunk beds. I think it is cute! I do wish I would have chosen some funkier fabrics {but I did start them 3 years ago - arghhh, and they were little girls then}


pick me!!!


Amy Hamberlin at the Quilt Shoppe is giving away an aDoRaBlE quilt. I have ooooohed and ahhhhed over this thing since it was first hung. Why? Because it takes quilting into a new generation really. Not a "granny" quilt that is for sure. My Savannah {no Liv is not an only child tee hee } thinks it is a ton of fun, and wishes aloud that it was hanging on her wall!


Well that is where YOU come in my dear friend....{yes, I am after something}


Check out Amy's blog for her amazing and fun patterns {and soon to be cUtSie fabric}, then comment on that quilt give away. Tell her I sent you {by name, or by blog address} and we both get an entry!!! Looove it!



Monday, July 6, 2009

Livvy's little photo session part 1

Olivia, Savannah and I stopped into "Annie's Attic" and asked if we could do some impromptu pics of Liv after we finished up at the photo studio. We got some {cutsie} pictures that she really loved. And she got to play with some fun vintage "props". Her favorite was the claw foot bathtub.



























Our little photo session part 2

We stopped by the {fabulous} Quilt Shoppe on the way out of town, and Melda let us take a few shots of Liv in the store....what better than all those great fabrics as a background! I could make this outfit in soooo many combinations that Amy has in stock there!