Oklahoma Tornado Relief - Moore Love

Hi Everyone!

I'm checking for two reasons.  First off to share that my family is okay.  On Sunday we did have the circulation pass over our home that turned into a tornado a few miles away.  We did have to get in our storm shelter, and were very glad we could share it with lovely neighbors.  We had some hail, but luckily nothing damaging for us.  We were horrified to see the damage done both Sunday and certainly the devastating damage to Moore, OK on Monday.

My guild is creating an opportunity to help, and I hope you will consider, and please help us spread the word.  You can find details by clicking on the logo above or by going to the guild page here.

A Quilt for my Son

Hi there, lovely quilty people!  :)

I feel like I'm living in a whirlwind these days.  Travel, cleaning, play dates, errands, cooking, crafting...it's feeling like a bit of a blur.  In a good way, just a blur.  And I'm finding that I'm okay with that.  I'm okay with less time on the computer, less time explaining what I'm doing and just...doing.  :)   I finished my son's bed quilt.  And that is quite the accomplishment.

 I began collecting these fabrics about 2.5 years ago.  I had planned to start right away, but we began the moving process and at the time my sewing area was our kitchen table so I didn't feel I could really have this huge ongoing project at the time.  Well, we moved, other projects were exciting and this was put by the wayside.  Somewhere early on in that time I went ahead and cut the center square fabric so it was ready to go.  Everything else remained untouched until Thanksgiving 2012 when I went on my guild retreat.

The rest of the process has occurred between now and Thanksgiving.  Lets say that I have learned a lot about how to cut fabric accurately between the time I cut the center squares compared to the rest of the fabric.  Hardly any of the squares were the exact right size.  :/  This made squaring these up a huge pain in the rear.  And...well, in the end...they're in a square shape, but they aren't square.  And...I'm okay with that.  Normally this would drive me bananas, but I look at it in a few ways:

1)  This is a labor of love for my son, and he adores it as is, and I hope that the love I put into it really comes through to him.

2)  This is sort of a history of my abilities up to this point in my quilting life.  And I think the accidental wonkiness just shows how far I have come.

3)  My son requested that I hand quilt this one.  Can I just say that I love that my sweet little boy knows the difference between machine and hand quilting????  And that the reason he wanted me to hand quilt it was so that he could sit with me under the quilt while I worked on it???  That right there brings tears to my eyes.

This little boy understands that this quilt is a physical representation of how much I love him, and he loves it all that much more because of it.

As I put the last few stitches on the binding one night, I gave the quilt a little kiss and hug and said a little prayer for it to bring him comfort and sweet dreams, and before heading to bed I tossed it in the wash.

The next morning he asked me where his quilt was.  I told him it was done and I needed to put it in the dryer so I could get it on his bed.  He basically told me to hurry up and do it!  lol  When it was done, and I placed it on his bed I asked him if he wanted to come and see it, and he said, "No.  I'll see it later."

WHAT?????  I was really shocked.  Not at all what I was expecting.  So, I asked my daughter if she wanted to see it (she is usually very underwhelmed by my sewing accomplishments at the age of 2).  She said yes, ran in to see it and said, "Oh Mommy.  It's beautiful!"  Way to save the moment baby girl!  :)  She immediately inquired as to when her quilt would be done (uhhh...), and made sure that it would involve mucho purple and pink.

I'm proud to report though that Gabriel has requested that the quilt be pulled up "really really tiny" (that's snug in Gabriel speak) every time he gets in bed.  :)  YAY!!!

My sweet friend, Gigi, asked how Year of the Stash was going.  Eh....  It's not easy, and I'm not perfect, but I think I'm much improved.  All I had to buy for this quilt was the backing (I used a sheet from Target) and a little extra of the Kona Ash (I was about 12 inches shy).  For those who are interested I used Allison's Chain Reaction Pattern.

And now, I am getting myself ready to head out the door again.  This time to visit my parents!!!  I'm so excited.  I haven't been to their house since my son was 6 months old.  (He's 4 now.)  It's hard living far away from family, but it does make the visits that much more exciting.  So be thinking of us, if you're up in the wee hours of the morning on Saturday.  Our flight leaves at 6:55 a.m.  ;)

Mother's Day Getaway

Getaway?  Didn't we just get away???  This is the year of travel for our family.  I'm VERY excited that we are visiting my parents in New Jersey in a few weeks.

It's even more exciting that we will be spending Mother's Day up there.  But, because we're spending Mother's Day there...we are "celebrating" here a tad early with some great books.

Of course I was interested in some things on the quilting front.  I've been admiring Sarah Fielke's "Hand Quilted With Love" for a while now, and eagerly awaiting Allison's book "Growin Up Modern."  

Allison's book reads as I imagine Allison to sound in person.  Very personable, thorough, and relatable.  My favorite part is her section on being a quilter and mom of young children...i.e. how to make time for your hobby.  It's great advice and so relatable.  The patterns are sweet and very beginner friendly.  The color choices are very Allison.  It's seriously like sitting down with a friend...despite the fact that she and I don't really know each other and this is beginning to sound a tad stalker like.  HA!  As you can tell, I'm a fan of hers, and I always appreciate that she was so kind to me when I asked her about how to dive into the world of quilting.  

Sarah's book is pages and pages of eye candy.  Every quilt is more beautiful than the next, the photography is lovely, and I pretty much want to make every single quilt in here.  Beware...there are corrections that you need to track down on the errata page (online) for the book.  You can find that through Sarah's website (linked above).  

But, quilting isn't the only thing I enjoy.  Good food and my kiddos are at the top of the list as well.

While I wouldn't call myself a Homesick Texan per say.  I spent many years growing up in Texas and aside from friends...I really do miss some good TexMex food.  Lisa Fain's book truly brings the best of Texas cooking to your home.  At least it looks like it does.  I haven't made anything yet.  It just showed up at my door two days ago.  But, the pictures are mouthwatering good.  I could lick the page.  I didn't. But, I could.  I am eager to make some good ol' spicy dishes.

And it wouldn't be Mother's Day without something for me to share with the kids.  Because really...without them...I wouldn't be a mom.  As a crafty/creative person myself I am very interested in instilling the fun of art and crafts into my children.  The beginning of "The Artftul Parent" really focuses on how to share art with kids, age appropriate experiences, what to expect from each age group, how to set up an art station (be it temporary or permanent), good supplies to have on hand, and how to talk with your kids about  their creations or creative process.  This last section is worth the purchase alone.  I know I fall into the trap of saying things are "pretty" or making guesses at what they draw.  But, this book is a good reminder to step away from that, and how to make valuable commentary on your child's art.  The activities for the most part may not be anything crazy new.  If you have a Pinterest account, you've seen most of it probably, but having the book at your fingertips to pour  over, and learn from, is really worth the price tag.  (Which is most definitely a reasonable one.)

So, those are my new inspiring reads.  I'm also currently enjoying a biography of Walt Disney.  One of my favorite inspiring people.  

What books are inspiring you these days?  As you can tell I love a good book, and am certainly open to suggestions. :)

Back to Business

Hi Y'all!

It feels like forever since I have touched my sewing machine and/or blogged.  Two weeks ago (I can't believe it's already been that long!) our family headed to Houston to drop the kids off with a set of Grandparents so the husband and I could get away together for a few days.  Let me tell ya...it was a much needed grown up vacation.  It was nice to remember who we are as a couple.

We hit up Vegas for our grown up vacation, which isn't one of my favorite places to go, but I knew if I suggested it he'd be on board. The first day my lovely hubby carried my shopping bags for me while I got myself some new, fabulous, and much needed clothes.  I forgot what it's like to shop for myself at the stores I WANT to shop at.  It was SO fun, and he was such a great sport.  The second day I followed him around downtown while he played craps all day.  (Gambling isn't really my thing, but I cheered him on.)  The last day we took it easy and relaxed, because really it was all about the evening activities.  Folks, we scored AMAZING seats to Jerry Seinfeld...he is SO great and worth every little penny we spent for those seats!  And on our last night we saw David Copperfield.  I have been in love with his illusions since I was a kid.  I remember fondly the nights his specials would come on, sitting with my family, exclaiming over each illusion.  I remember my parents taking us to see his show in person as kids!!!  He is truly one of my favorite inspiring people.  I have photos to share but don't know where my husband stashed the other camera.  The kids had a fun time with the grandparents, and we were all happy to get back home when it was over.

All of that to say...I haven't sewn in FOREVER.  So today I'm sharing with you some little things.  I'm really enjoying my Stitch That Stash group.  I have received all of the blocks for my month and can't wait to get them together:

Isn't that so bright and cheery???  And I think that gray center really helps to pull it all together.  I've been wanting to do a "rainbow" type of quilt for a long while, but didn't feel like pulling it together myself so this ended up being a great opportunity to do that.  Thanks so much ladies!!!

For April we were asked to make a low volume cross block.  I'm loving the simplicity of these blocks, but they pack a big effect.  I'm really looking forward to seeing them all together.  Here are mine:

It continued to surprise me what fabrics look low volume when they're separated from other fabrics, but when you put them up next to each other how their value all of a sudden felt so different.

I have a Madrona Rd. Challenge mini to share with you, but it needs it's binding, and I am about <this close> to being done hand quilting my son's bed quilt.

Hope y'all are doing well! :)

A Romping 2 Year Old

Two year olds are stubborn.  Like when you make them a new outfit, and they refuse to take off the shirt they're wearing, but want you to put their new romper on over said shirt and then take their picture.  So, bear with me and imagine her wearing it without the rainbow knit underneath.  :/  Two year olds...gotta love 'em!  ;)

I made this romper, titled "Saffron," from Sew Sweet Patterns on Etsy.  I had to make a 3T as she was topping out the height on the 2T measurements, so it ended up a little big.  But, it will be nice that she has it to grow into over the summer.

I am deeply in love with this print from the Posy line.  I think this is the best line by Aneela yet, and my daughter simply adores the purple.

As far as the pattern is concerned...I wasn't a fan.  The images were poor quality, the pattern itself wasted too much paper unnecessarily, there are no instructions for finishing off seams (I serged mine as I am not a fan of raw seams that will unravel over time), and the pattern pieces (top half and bottom half) didn't fit together properly.  The puckering in the crotch area seems to be due to her not being quite tall enough to fill the romper out properly so that doesn't really bother me.

Luckily the small puckers that occurred due to the bottom half being slightly larger than the top half (due to pattern issues) just look like they are a part of the design since it's gathered around the waist. Overall, I think the result is cute.  Although I wouldn't recommend purchasing this particular romper pattern.

In the end...she loves it and that's what really matters.  :)

 Don't feel bad for this guy...

I have a shirt in the works for him.  :)

And just because I think this is hilarious...look at this face she's giving him.  HA!

Free Block Pattern of mine on OKCMQG!

Good morning lovely sewing people!

The Oklahoma City MQG has a BOM going on and April was my month to share a block pattern.  I chose the OKC Memorial Chair block. (You've seen it a couple of times here and here.)  I also made it in a print:

It's a simple, graphic and lovely block.  It comes together VERY quickly.  I will eventually put the pattern up here, but for now you can find it (with a easy pdf print out of the directions) over on the OKCMQG blog.  If you make it I'd love to see your rendition so please do share it with me!  :)

Sit and Sew a Spell

I'm always fascinated to see where people sew.  Kitchen table?  An entire room?  I'm fortunate to have graduated from the kitchen table to the majority of our home office.  Eventually it will be mine...all mine.  My husband doesn't know that yet though, so lets keep that between us.  ;)

I created my own ironing board as I hate the "normal" one for working on quilts.  I wanted something with a deeper and more rectangular surface.  So I got this Martha Stewart Craft furniture piece as a storage space for my scraps. I then covered a board in Insul-Brite batting, made a cover out of some Chicopee fabric and stuck it on top of the cabinet.  It works really well.  I still may have to drag out the regular ironing board when I'm working on bags or clothes, but for the more often than not this does the trick.  I also LOVE that it's in front of the window.  It's so nice on a sunny day to steal glances outside while I'm ironing.   :)  I also slide my large cutting mat under there...helps to keep it from warping.

Here we have my sewing desk and sweet green chair (while my son is doing his best to photo bomb my pictures).  These are new from Ikea.  :)  It's so great to have my machine on the far right of the table so I have all of the space to my left for big quilts.  Although right now I have my smaller cutting mat out over there.  That's really nice to.  To have a pretty dedicated cutting space that isn't the floor.  Above my awesome table I have 3 shelves that I use to store/display various notions, fabrics, yarns, art supplies, etc.  I used some small 3M hooks to hang some colorful twine so I can display small blocks, pictures, and whatever else I find to make my space happy.

To the right of my sewing desk I have my line up of projects in the blue Ikea cart, a basket of rulers, and some foam for a project that I wanted to make 2 years ago.  I need to get to that.  On the wall we have my nice Martha Stewart Spool holder that my in-laws got me for Christmas, and above that my treasured autographed picture/playbill/theatre ticket for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest starring the one and only Gary Sinise.  It's a lengthy story, but a good one.  :)

My latest addition (and still in progress one) is my design wall.  Currently the board is cut and the batting is simply draped over it.  I can't tell you how many times the kids have knocked this over in the last 3 days.  :/  Oh well, hopefully a couple more times will give me the motivation to finish the project. It's so nice to be able to see my blocks up there though.  

And no...I didn't clean this up before I took pictures.  I'm just a bit of a neat freak.  :)