Curtains make a difference!

Remember this post, where I showed you a drawing of some curtains I made but I didn't have the pictures yet? Well here they are. I have to say my friend loves here curtains, and spending time in her living room now. Before the windows let in so much heat that the room would get really warm in the afternoon.

I put black out fabric on the back to help keep the heat out, and it has made a huge difference.

Pink is for girls

This is a nursery that I did for a friend of mine. I actually did this a few years ago but I am just now getting around to posting the pictures. My friend drew me a picture of these curtains and I made them. It was really fun to figure out how to construct them to look like the picture.

I also did the pillow in the chair and the crib skirt, bumper and pillows.


The pillow below was my favorite one to make. This picture also shows a close up of the bumper pad. It has custom made piping and covered buttons. I really love how everything turned out.

The hem of the bed skirt was roll hemmed to help the fabric flow and puddle more.



If I had a girl I would love to do a room for her like this.

Trick or Treat

I am so excited for Halloween! Not because I'm dressing up or anything but because I designed, drafted and constructed my very own pattern for my baby's costume. Isn't that sweet! (pun intended)

He is going to be the cutest little candy corn. The costume has felt on the outer and is lined with a cotton muslin on the inside. There is a zipper in the back and snaps on the bottom between the legs openings.



In other news here are a few shots of some things I'm putting up in my shop. The first is a set of burp clothes. They are two layers of flannel with ribbon on one side.

The second picture is of some kitchen towels I did. I'm really digging the ric rac on these.

Bloggers quilt festival!

I am so excited to participate in the online quilt festival again! Amy from parkcitygirl has done a great job! As I was thinking about what quilt I wanted to share, I realized with all that happened this summer I have only made one quilt since last market. But I have to say it is one of my favorites, so I will share it with you.

My sister just younger then me was getting married in June so I made this quilt for her and her hubby. You see below they love it! It has dibs on the bed, while the other comforters they got are being stored in a closet somewhere.

I started out making it a queen sized quilt, or so I thought. Originally it was going to have 5 columns of "huge coins" but once I got them all sewn on I realized it was way to wide and to short. I'll just blame that over sight on being pregnant (because I was). So I took off one column and picked it apart and then added sections of it to the bottom of the first four. Problem solved, but it turned out I made a very large queen sized or should I say it was a king sized one. It was a good thing though because my sister got a king sized bed, so it worked out perfect.
The picture above is a pieced strip that I used for the back of the quilt. Below is the quilt done except for the binding. This was a HUGE quilt to machine quilt on my little Bernina, but I managed. I don't think I will make one this large again, for awhile at least.
Here is the back. It was so big I had to wait to get pictures until we were at my parents house and there was a few extra hands to help. Those three heads you see are my two brothers and my husband. Oh and the arms at the bottom belong to my sister.
Here is the front. I was trying to get a nice picture of the quilt just hanging there but umm... it was a bit windy that day.
See what I mean...
Many of the coral fabrics are from Jennifer Paganelli's flower power line. The blues are from my stash and some are vintage given to me from my grandma. I had a lot of fun making this quilt for my sister and I know it will be loved by her and her hubby as well as from me from afar.

Checking in

I thought I would check in really quick and let you know how things are going. I was thinking the other day about how much I haven't been sewing when I realized I have actually done some just not as much as I was pre-baby. So here is a small list of what I have sewn post baby. I'm hoping to get pictures up here one of these days.

-Mai Tei baby carrier

-replace the back portion of the bouncer chair cover

-2T size jumper for my shop

-7 burp clothes for my shop

WIP (work in progress)

- working on designing/fitting a pattern for a Halloween costume for my baby. He is going to be a candy corn. I'm really excited about this because it will be my first "clothing" pattern that I have made from scratch.

I mentioned my shop up there but I'm still working on getting it going. If anyone has advise on shipping options and what they find works best I would love to hear about it. Oh and I will be participating in Amy's bloggers quilt festival, so check back in a few days to see the quilt I picked.

I'm still here but...

I've been a little preoccupied with our family's newest arrival. I forgot how much time they hog, not that I blame the baby, who wouldn't want to spend time with this little cutie?

I'm just popping in to say hello and hopefully I can post a few things soon (no time line on that). Soon is relative at this point. I hope you are all having a great September and looking forward to Quilt Market.

A bit of service

There is a local quilt shop that collects and donates quilts and blankets to the area hospitals and shelters so anyone who needs one can have one. The majority of the quilts are given to children.

I was cleaning up my sewing studio and found these finished and waiting for me to drop them off. So today I took them over to the quilt shop.

The red and blue one is about 32x32in. The top was made by my friends mother and then it found its way to me. I just added the batting, backing, quilting and binding.
These two green ones are premie sized 16x20in or so. I know the fabric is not very baby-ish but some dad out there is going to like them because they remind me of hunting and the outdoors.
This last one I made from scraps I had of another baby quilt I made and sold a few years ago. Its a premie sized one too.
It's a win win situation, the kids get a new comfort blanket and I get more storage space in my studio and the great feeling you get when you serve others in need!

Pillow cases with french seams!

I whipped these up from cutting them out to finished in about 2 hours flat! They are so easy; I'm wondering why I haven't made more before this?

I was at Walmart the other day and my son spotted this fun turtle fabric, he asked me right away if I could make him a blanket out of it. I said how about a pillow case instead, he said "Yeah, mom that's what I want, its really cool fabric."
I made 2 so that both my boys could have one, no fighting over it that way. I also made them with french seams. An extra step yes, but I didn't have to retread my serger that way. I think retreading the serger would have taken me longer, plus I wanted to try it with the french seams and I have to say I will be using them the next time I make a pillow case.

Updates from the last month

Wow, it seems like forever since I've had a moment to post on here, so I'm going to try to catch you all up on everything that has kept me away.

First I got a sewing job using this wonderful home decor fabric to make 2 sets of curtain panels and 2 cornices for the sweetest lady I think I have ever met.

Here is the drawing of what she wanted them to look like when they were done. I'm still waiting on actual pictures of the finished product but they are coming.
Then I went to a sewing get together and we all made or worked on making pillow covers to go over forms. This is the back of mine, and it is so soft I love it.
Here is the front. This pillow will be making its home in my sewing room, but I did make sure and put a zipper in it so if the kids get it dirty I can still wash it.
This next little creation was one that came to me in the middle of the night about a week ago. I had an idea and then I got heartburn (due to being in my 9th month of pregnancy) and couldn't sleep so I just got up and started working on it.

It's an I-Spy game for kids. I was just testing out my idea/pattern so I used scraps from my scrap drawer and left over bias tape.
I made two of them so each of my boys could have there own after they both wanted to play with the first one. These were pretty easy to put together and they didn't take long so I will be making more to sell soon (no time table on that). If you would like to order one just leave me a comment with your email or email me and I'll get back to you with the details.
This is the final project that I have been working on. It is a dress for a client that needed something for her up coming high school reunion. Here is a close up of the front detail,
and here is a full view. It looked great on her, but I don't think she thought it did. I felt a little bad, but it was her choice of the pattern and fabric. I really did do a great job of fitting it to her.

I guess you just can't please everyone all the time even if you do your best work on something.
So, now on to other things. I'll be making some fun pillow cases for my boys this week and I want to start on a Mei Tai carrier for when the baby gets here.

What creative things have you been up to lately?

The Hungry Catepillar

I have been working on this quilt for the last little while, that is when I get a chance. We've been busy here rearranging furniture in bedrooms to make room for the new little one that will be here in about 6 weeks, but that's another post so on to this one.

This is for my friend's little girl. She just became a big sister to a little brother and she really loves the quilt I gave him. So for her birthday (she just turned 2) I found this panel of the Hungry Caterpillar and added the squares on the edge because that was her favorite part of her brothers blanket.

The top went together really fast, the part that took longer then I thought it would was the quilting. I did circles instead of the stipling that I usually do.
Here it is before I put on the binding (above). Below is after the binding was done.
I love how the circles give it a pebble like look, I may use this pattern again on another quilt.
You can see the pebble look a little better here. This little girl is going to love this quilt, one of her favorite books is "The Hungry Caterpillar," her mom tells me she reads it to her almost everyday. Happy Birthday little one!

For a trip

As I mentioned in the last post my sister got married recently. We had to travel to Utah for her wedding (a 24 hour drive for us here in Texas). I thought it would be a good idea to make up a few smaller things to bring with us.

This is a coloring station for my 5 yr old. He really like the crayola color wonder sets, but the markers seem to get all over the house so I made this to hold everything together.

This is the front, I used about 2 1/2 fat quarters to make the whole thing and some scraps of thick sturdy interfacing. I love the yellow button on the front.
Here is the inside. The markers are in the pocket on the left and then the coloring book on the right. I thought about putting something above the marker pocket but opted not too.
Here you can see the orange buttons that hold the flap down so the markers don't fall out as it is being carried around.
The pocket that holds the coloring book in place.
And a view of the markers in there place.

My sister asked me to make four bow ties for her wedding. They are for the four little nephews that would be there. This is one of them in progress, I didn't actually finish them until I was in Utah.
The last time we went to visit family we had to put every ones clothes in suitcases. Which would be fine if we didn't have to bring one for each person, and try and fit it all in the car. This time I made the kids small/medium sized duffel bags with a drawstring top. They fit better in the car, because they can be put in any space.
The first one is my 2 yr old's bag. I let each of my kids pick out the fabric they wanted for there bag. He is in to fish lately so this is the fabric he picked. My 5 yr old picked the Thomas the train fabric below. The bottoms of the bags are a jean circle so there is a more weighty fabric to lend more support.
These were easy and fun to make and I'm sure they will be used on many trips to come.