Baby Quilt Update

I have been hard at work on the baby quilt and I am almost finished! I just have the all the sides to do and then I can bind it.

Here are some photos:

The blue and green stripes are all around the edges  - I am outlining every one of them in black thread.

An up-close shot .... yes, I know I went "outside the lines" in a few places, but I figure the baby won't know.. or care!

Can you see the lion's face?

A machine quilter's best friend - a pair of quilting gloves. They have grippy stuff on the inside to help you grip the fabric better. I wish I would have gotten these when I first started it, rather than 3/4 of the way through. If you don't want to buy these (I only paid about $4 for them at Jo-Ann) I'm sure a pair of gardening gloves would work good too ... just make sure they fit your hands real good; not too tight or too loose.

My other SIL is going to help me with the binding and finishing. I will see her this Friday when we go up to Phoenix for the big Sewing and Quilting Show (yay, can't wait).

Have a great weekend everyone!

Trying My Hand at Quilting

Since I started sewing again (last May or so) I have wanted to try my hand at quilting. I knew absolutely nothing about it, I just loved the way it looked. I finally got the courage up to try it (with some help from my SIL Becky).

I purchased a fabric panel at the quilt store along with some backing fabric. I already had some Warm & Natural cotton batting (since this will be for a baby that lives here in AZ I didn't want anything too thick). Here is what it looks like:

It is hard to see the backing fabric in the photo, but it is a really neat black and white flannel that I think goes perfectly with the front panel. I am using my sewing machine to outline all of the animals in black thread. So far I have finished the elephant, lion and the pink plant.

Our plan is to use the extra backing fabric for the binding .... Becky will help me with this step once I am done with all the quilting.

It is kind of tricky, as I'm not used to sewing so many curves! But I am enjoying the process, and I can't wait till it's finished.  I'll keep you posted on my progress.

Changed Again

I changed my background again ... some people were having trouble viewing my other one, so I'm back to using one of Blogger's templates. I don't know about you, but I sure miss the old way you used to do it in Blogger.  :)

New Year, New Look

I hope everyone had a great holiday season. Among other things, I got a Sidewinder, a rolling Sewing Machine case, and the book "Stitch by Stitch" by Deborah Moebes for Christmas. I can't wait to use all three.

I decided to change the look of my blog; I hope it shows up okay! I found some neat backgrounds at thecutestblogontheblock.com.

I haven't done much sewing lately, although I really need to. Our niece had a baby boy named Evan on my hubby's birthday, Dec. 23, so I need to make some onesies, burp pads, etc. for her. I've gotten a onesie completed so far:

Right now I'm trying to clean and organize my house and put away all the Christmas decorations. It is taking longer than I thought .... I had one day where I was raring to go, and ever since then I just have not been motivated to do anything. Hopefully today I will at least get the Christmas tree taken down and some cleaning done.

Have a great week!

Happy New Year

Here's hoping that your 2011 is filled with love and joy. I'm looking forward to another year of sharing my sewing projects with all of my blogging friends.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Merry Christmas

Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas. I hope all of your Christmas wishes come true!

Thank You ... and some easy Christmas Projects

Thank you for your comments on my previous post about ending this blog. After much thought, I think I will keep it going. I really love sewing and crafting, and I love sharing my projects!

With that said, here are some projects I have made recently, either as gifts or Christmas decor (hope you find something you can use Tootsie Marie!!).

This started out as a styrofoam tree and some garland from Dollar Tree; ended up like this:

My SIL has blues/browns in her living room and dining room, so I made her some holiday decorations, again using styrofoam:

This time I used glass marbles and hot-glued them on (be sure to use low-temp glue gun or you will melt the styrofoam!). I made more of the styrofoam balls with different marbles and things, but forgot to take pictures!

I wanted some holiday pillows, but did not want to pay the $20 most places want for one. Made some myself using Christmas placemats from Target ($3.99). Just opened up a spot big enough to fit my hand through using a seam ripper and added some fiberfill, then sewed it back up!

Reindeer shirts I made for my sister and my two great-nephews to wear at Christmas. They turned out so cute... easy to make using felt.

Every year I give some of the neighbors Christmas goodies I have baked. This year I made some pretty plates to put them on; after the goodies are gone, they can use them as Christmas decor!

I bought clear glass plates at Wal-mart for $1.50 each. Cut a circle of fabric about an inch bigger than the plate. Apply some Mod-Podge to the back of the plate and smooth on your fabric, getting rid of any wrinkles or air bubbles. Then trim the fabric around the rim of the plate and apply some Mod-Podge around the edges to seal it up well. Then add a couple layers of Mod-Podge over the whole thing (back of plate), allowing it to dry between layers. This can be hand-washed only.

I hope you enjoyed these... they were all easy to make and did not take a lot of time to complete.

Happy Holiday Crafting!