A Flickr Group

I'm pleased to announce that I've set up a flickr group for YOUR photos of things you've made using my tutorials!  So if you've made a Sweet Tooth Pouch, Connor's messenger bag, car mat, a Table Setting Placemat or anything else using one of my tutorials, please add your photos to the pool.  I'd love to see what you've all done!

I may even feature what you've done here! 

An Easter Tunic

 

For Easter this year, I wanted to make Connor a nice shirt (and not a tie, like I usually do).  I loved the idea of a spring tunic for him!  It's got a great Mediterranean feel to it - especially with that fabric.

The pattern I used for this tunic is the BOY/GIRL Unisex Tunic from Mani Mina.  I made it a size six, which turned out to be a little big for him, but . . . oh well.... 

The main fabric for the tunic is Kate Spain Central Park Hernshead Lawn.  It's a great pattern for him - slightly boy-like, but still light for spring and he loves to be outside (picking up leaves, twigs and yes, worms and slugs).

Needless to say the kiddos had a great Easter!

Buttercup Dress

Saturday afternoon I sat down and started cutting out fabric for Gwyneth's Easter dress.  Yup, I know talk about last minute.  I don't know where the time went last week, but somehow I didn't get to it until then.  I worked for a few hours, stopped and then went to my parents for dinner, then started again after the kids went to bed.  I got it done and even managed to get five hours of sleep before the kiddos woke up on Easter morning.

I was confident I could get it done, since the pattern is pretty much the same one I used for her Christmas dress, except I added little cap sleeves (with lace edge), left off the sash, and added a lace trim to the bottom.

The pattern is from New Look 6648.  It's made with Kona Cotton in Buttercup and it's fully lined (with tulle in between the layers to make it a little fuller).  The lace is just a simple cotton eyelet lace.  The back has a zipper closure.

Gwyneth loved this dress and didn't want to take it off at the end of the day.  I'll be back tomorrow to show you Connor's Easter shirt!

All PEEPed out!

We're all pimped PEEPed out here.  There are PEEPs everywhere!  Those cute little yellow bunnies are so happy looking!  They always make me smile!

I started by making the PEEPs Bunny Bunting from Dana of MADE.  I saw it last year and loved it, but never got around to making it.  It was very easy and I love it!  My son saw the bunnies and asked if I could put one on his shirt.  So I made one out of yellow interlock knit instead of felt and appliqued it to an inexpensive shirt.

Actually, I made two of them. . . .

I whipped up this fun little Spring Sienna dress (pattern by LBB) and added the bunny to it.  I did a fun lettuce ruffle on the sleeves and a slightly gathered ruffle at the base.  The green and white fabric was a jersey knit (the rest interlock knits) and I decided to leave the bottom ruffle unhemmed so that it would have a nice, natural rolled edge.

Sorry about the poor quality of the pics.  It's been raining here and I've got limited natural light.  I'm off to finish the kiddos Easter (church) clothes.  I'll be back to show them to you on Monday.  Hope you all have a Happy Easter!

A Quilt of Love

This beautiful quilt is headed off for Japan next week. I was fortunate enough to help out with Log Cabins for Japan and make a few blocks myself (which ended up in another quilt), but I also got to assemble this beautiful quilt with donated blocks.

I love how beautiful it looks in the sun!

Many different people who never met, came together to make something for someone in need on the other side of the world whom they will never meet. There is love in every stitch. We hope this quilt will bring a little comfort and warmth (both to the heart and body) of someone who lost so much.

Connor wanted to enjoy some of the beautiful log cabin blocks too.

And test it out a bit by soaking up some spring sunshine! He told me he was adding more love to the quilt. Such a sweet little boy!

I donated the batting, backing, binding and some of my time. The binding was a simple light gray (pre-made) and the backing was a beautiful dark green with tiny roses.

Here's a just a few of my favorite blocks (in no particular order):

Does anyone know what this says??

Thanks again to all who donated blocks and thanks to Annik for organizing this.

Finished quilt size: Approx.  49" x 60"

Beam me up Scotty!

My niece just turned 8 last week!  She loved the Star Wars dress I made for her last year, so I thought it would be fun to make her a Star Trek dress.  She knew who Kirk was, but had no idea who Picard was. I'm sure she will quickly be informed (and get to catch up on old episodes of both shows). 

For the dress, I used the Sienna dress pattern by Lil Blue Boo.  I actually made it a size 6 and just added several inches to the length of the dress.  My niece is very slim and tall, so it should fit just fine.

The bottom of the dress says: 

10 Reasons Why Kirk is better than Picard.

10.  One word: Hair!

9.  Kirk would personally throw Wesley off his bridge.

8.  Kirk would never sing to children in a crisis.

7.  Kirk wasn't shy about taking his shirt off.

6.  Kirk can beat a Klingon bare-handed.

5.  Three words: Flying Leg Kick.

4.  Kirk doesn't let the doctor tell him what to do.

3.  If Kirk finds a strange spinning probe, he blows it up.

2.  Kirk never drinks tea, ever.

1.  Kirk can beat a Vulcan at chess.

I showed my husband this and he immediately said #3 should be in the #1 spot.  I agree.  I picked up the Star Trek t-shirt from Target (Clearance) and the blue stripped fabric is interlock knit yardage.

Wrapped up in her dress, I hid another present for her. . .

Her first diary!  What little 8 year-old girl wouldn't want a secret place to keep her thoughts!  Happy birthday Jana!

Wow!

I just found out I came in 3rd place in the Lil Blue Boo / Dharma Trading Co Design Challenge.  Congratulations to the other winners!  They are all so creative!  If you get a chance, check out all of the other fabulous entries! 

Spring is Here! . . . (finally)

Well the snow has finally all gone. It's been here since November, so it's about time. Our yard is waking up and it's spring!

There's new life coming . . .

Duck eggs (actually at my in-laws house)

Flowers poking up through the soil . .

The shrubs and trees are budding . . .

The moss has sprung to life . . .

The wildlife has returned . . .

The rhubarb is waking up . . .

Plants are waking up everywhere. . .

So much life and so much fun for little kids. Little fingers looking under rocks to find more life . . .

worms and slugs

Fingers happily digging in the sand. . .

and little feet anxious to go fast!

HAPPY SPRING!

One more thing done on my ever growing list of things to do

I finally got the seam binding sewn on all six of my Table Setting Placemats.  I was really slow about hand sewing them on, but they look so nice! 

Sunday afternoon I went over to Sewtropolis to help sort through and sew some of the donated log cabin squares together for quilts to send to the tsunami victims in Japan.  When I arrived, there were a whopping 134 squares!  Thank you!  They were all so beautiful.  We are constructing six quilts and they all look amazing!  I took one home and I'm going to finish that up this week. 

Log Cabin Blocks

I whipped up a few log cabin blocks yesterday.  I used some fabric that has been in my stash for years.

These log cabin blocks are being donated to Log Cabins for Japan, which will be joined with other donated blocks and sewn into quilts this weekend by the Minneapolis Modern Quilt Guild and anyone who lives in the Minneapolis Area and who would like to come help assemble some quilts. (Click here for info on that.)  Hope to see you there!