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!
















Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Rigby's Quilt Shoppe

I am so lucky to live in an area where creative people abound!!! I had a project to finish up, and needed to head into Rigby to Amy Hamberlin's Quilt Shoppe. So glad I did! She just returned from Market in Philly {can you say jealous!}. She had great news ~ she is getting her own fabric line {COOL!}

Check out her stuff @ www.katicupcake.com or better yet her blog @ http://katicupcakequiltingco.blogspot.com/

I am not part of this industry, but it wakes my brain up just looking at what they are up to!

Going to finish my project for the girls room for their new room...will update with photos {hopefully soon}

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Quilt shoppes


Quilting isn't a big deal to me, but OH the fabrics in those quilt shoppes are!!! There is such a great change happening in quilting. "Granny" fabrics are going to the back wall and in coming are fun fabulous prints, with nods to the new and old. The fabrics hold up great in apparel with the appropriate care and the designers are having so much fun it will make your head spin!

I was just in Twin Falls, Idaho while my dh was attending some incident command classes {yawn} and I had time to troll around the area. Kimberly is a tiny little town just outside of Twin where, when hunting for a fax machine I stepped inside the Quilt Barn { hEaVeN }. The building was large and bright, with distressed floors and painted tin ceilings. Vintage style quilts in bright and bold patterns adorned picnic tables and old iron beds in display windows, it was sensory overload {in a gOoD way}. This store is worth visiting! A balcony overhead featured lots of new ideas in fun fabrics in the way of finished quilts draped over the barn red rail. Everything was bright and airy and made me want to take fabric home right there and then!

check it out at http://www.thequiltbarn.com/ { i like the store better in person than online eSpeCiAlLy the kid's corner framed with a little white picket fence - great for the Liv, and barn red club chairs to ponder upon what patterns to buy}

I am soooo going back there! I didn't get the chance to pick stuff up because we ended up having *stuff* come up and had to rush off to Boise, but oh I havn't forgotten, and will return with yardage needs in pocket!!!

Easter Sunday

I tried to get good, fun, and {pReTtY} pictures to send to Grandma's etc. on Easter Sunday. That is a {hUgE} challenge here in S.E. Idaho. The problem was, that NOTHING was green yet, even the grass looked half dead still.

We ended up going down to the pasture, and just walking around. We ended up giving in and the pictures turned out fine, although the background looks a little like fall rather than Easter { no tulips etc. }. Oh well, got some cute pics to send to family.

The Liv's dress came together great because she had a shrug from Gymboree she wore for Easter LAST YEAR , same with little white gloves and the hair curly { from the "pEtItE fLeUr , and gArDeN bLoOm lines ...borderline vintage lines, but they worked soooo well }.

Olivia's dress is going to need to be altered after all, as her straps allowed too much gaping and she was always showing skin {not cute}.

Bannanna's dress is PERFECT and I was really surprised to find the {absolute} matching shrug from TCP {yAy!!!}

Colton and Braden were easier {as always } and they looked FAB!!!









Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Easter

Once again, I opted to buy clothes rather than to make them. The dress came from JcP*nny's and was 50% off along with my 15% off coupon it was a pretty deal. Her shoes, and shrug sweater were from Gymbor**'s Petite Fleur Line, and the hair curly was from Gymbor**'s Garden Bloom line, from WAYYYY back when. We picked up those items from ebay LAST year, and they still fit!!! She even had charming little white gloves with a lime green bow that matched (not worn past the first 5 min of church and stayed in my bag after that).


Making a dress for her would have made sense in this case, even though it was super cute, the dress kept gaping at the shoulders and she kept trying to take the sweater off. One of the biggest PRO'S of sewing dresses, is that today's market steers away from sleeves. I think it is more than just fashion choice, but to cut costs. Either way, I kind of wish I would have found the time to make a cutsie dress like this, but with sleeves, and nixed all of the accessories for my 3 year old.

Gymboree Equestrian Club

Olivia got this outfit for Christmas this year, the hat came later after a HORRIBLE hair cut. All of the clothing peices, including the boots were previously owned and bought from either consignment stores, or ebay. The hat came from ebay with the shirt underneath that reads *I love Horses* and was NWT, the tights are from W*l-M*rt and the purse Fr*d M*y*r Christmas clearance.

Even though I love to make fun things for my Liv, the truth is sometimes it is a BETTER deal to buy it over making it.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Portabello Pixie

Ok, so spring has GOT to get here some time or another. If it waits until JUNE like it did last year I might turn into a full and complete NUTTER!!!

Anyway, my thoughts are going to spring! Which helps me forget the fact that my roof has an ice dam 6" thick and Colton woke up this morning to CHINESE WATER TORTURE as my 4 month old windows drip WATER onto his headboard, and then onto his HEAD. I used to like winter.....I think the affair might be OVER!!!

Ok, back to more important things. Sandi Henderson has this FABITY FAB pattern that she designed. I bought it at a trunk show and think it is ADORABLE and think that this might be the time to get it out and make a truly FUN dress for the Liv.

Check out Sandi's blog.... http://portabellopixie.typepad.com/portabellopixie/
she has got some GREAT stuff going on!!!

I am making the pattern listed as the Claire. I also have a pattern she designed for a market bag. I am thinking EASTER!!! Plenty of time....... RIGHT!?!