A Little Peek

Just a little peek at Lauren's quilt's progress.  I'm three rows (out of 10 total) into quilting it and I think it's looking great.  In my original sketch I had planned to do a double heart (heart inside of a heart), but when I practiced it began looking too busy and you couldn't really tell anymore that they were hearts.  So, I chose to do smaller more intricate work rather than larger work just so I could do the double hearts.

 I have discovered that I need an open toe free motion quilting foot though.  This one is clear but very big and chunky so I can't see a lick of what I'm doing.  It's making it a big challenge.  Doable, but I will definitely be looking at getting a new foot for my machine.  FUN!!!  :)

This picture just makes me happy.  A giant lovely quilt taking over my table.  The only thing better...having a giant finished quilt ready for snoozing under.

A Beginner Project

A dear friend came into town for a visit while the hubby was on business.  And while that's not really conducive to getting work done on custom stuff.  We did get a little sewing fun in.  Kelly has a little idea for a sewing project (it's actually quite large actually) but didn't have much sewing experience.  So, we had a little instruction time and she whipped this envelope pillow together for my son.  He loves it.  :)

So does the dog.  ;)

Now back to work on that twin quilt.  It is sandwiched and ready for quilting.  :)

Lauren's Custom Twin Quilt Progress

Well, the blocks are all pieced and now I'm working on how to arrange them.  It's no easy task with little ones running off with your blocks as you lay them out.  lol  I think it's pretty close.  I may lay it back out tonight when everyone is asleep and take one last look and move some of them around.  I also got the binding today.  :)

Lauren's daughter's favorite color is purple.  So although the main Tula Pink "Prince Charming" fabrics (in Olive) didn't have any purple in them I tried to incorporate it as best I could without it looking off.  I found a white with purple and green dot to help tie it in, and then the softer purple to keep it from becoming too overwhelming.  The binding will be a deep purple (matches the darkest purple in the dot).  I kept the neutral sashing in Kona Cotton's "Snow."  I was afraid to add yet another color.  The backing will be entirely solid pink so I didn't necessarily want more pink in there.  I didn't want to over do the purple, and well...more green?  Then this quilt would have to be the Jolly Green Giant quilt.  lol

Anyway...it's exciting to see progress made.  Happy crafting!  :)

OKEtsy Interview

I just wanted to pop in to let you know that an interview I did with OKEtsy (the Oklahoma Etsy Team - of which I am a member) is up today.  You can check it out here.

And keep checking out the OKEtsy Blog as I am a bi-monthly writer there now.  My next post should go up next week.  (And I have NO idea what I'm going to write about.  lol)

Birthday Prep

My little bug will be 1 year old next month!!!!  Of course I can't let this go by without some celebration, and therefore the crafting has begun for her very first birthday party!  (Which currently consists of the 4 of us, and our crazy horse goat dog.)

So today we stopped by Hobby Lobby to pick up some items for a balloon wreath (which is actually great because I can use it for everyone's birthdays!)  I actually found this on Pinterest, but the tutorial is from Our Best Bites .

I did modify it slightly in that I didn't leave the plastic wrap on my straw wreath, but I did wrap it in tulle (you know the kind you can get on the spool?  Not on the bolt.) to keep it from making a giant mess every time I hang it up.   My bag of balloons also seemed to have larger balloons than the ones they used.

At The Cozy Pumpkin abode we like to get everyone involved when we can, so as we sat down to lunch I had my son handing me balloons and practicing saying the color names.  Gotta work on that speech every chance we get!

 And my daughter...well, it's her birthday coming up so no reason to make her little 10.5 month old self slave away.  She enjoyed some delicious black berries and chattered with us while we worked.

Busy Bee

Well, I have been a busy little bee.  I completed this crib skirt for a mommy to be.  What you can't see in this picture is that there is a darling little pleat with yellow peaking through.  But, because the skirt is made to the specifications of the soon to be mommy's crib and not mine it's not peeking out here.  It's so sweet though.  A beautiful buttery yellow.  This gray fabric is from a Birch Organic Fabrics line and it has little wheels/starbursts and birds.  Or as my son calls them "dirdies" or "weet weets".  I wish this picture did it more justice, but I hope that the mom is just thrilled to pieces when she gets it in the mail.

At the same time I have been hard at work on a custom quilt for Lauren's little girl's big kid bed.  :)  Last time you saw these fabrics they were all in fat quarters.  Now they're all cut up and I have begun piecing the blocks together.  Today I have been piecing, and piecing, and piecing.  lol  Tomorrow I have to iron seams open and then piece some more.  It's a tedious process, but soooo fun to see it all come together bit by bit.

If I have to pick that thing up one more time...

But, I won't have to pick "it" up anymore because I made paci clips!!!  (Well, I realize I'll still have to once in a while, but not as often.)

I have had this tutorial by Dana from MADE saved on my computer since my daughter was about 3 or 4 months old.  And I'm FINALLY getting around to it.  Why now?  Well, aside from the irritation mentioned above, I had my serger out so it was the perfect time to get it done.

There are great directions and pictures on Dana's tutorial.  (And if you're so inclined to peak around on her blog check out "The Boy" section.  Everything is for BOYS!!!!  That's a rarity in the sewing world it seems.

Anyway...here are my finished paci clips.  Complete with The Cozy Pumpkin labels.  I used Michael Miller fabric, but for the life of me I can't think of the name of the line right now.  It's a version of Meadow Sweet.

My Kids Recommend

I know we already did books, but this one was just too good not to share!

Press Here, by Herve Tullet, is a genius concept.  So simple I'm mad I didn't think of it myself!  But, loads of fun for my son and I to curl up on the couch together and share a good interactive book.  The book is nothing but dots (well, words too), but it has the child press on the dots to make them turn colors, multiply in number, get bigger and smaller, it has you move the book to have the dots slide around on the pages or line up straight.  He gets such a kick out of thinking that he made the dots move.  And the entire time he's learning counting, colors, following directions, and GREAT vocabulary.  But, the best part is we just laugh and laugh the entire time.  Definitely money well spent!

Alaina Custom Order

I'm so excited to be doing another custom crib skirt.  One, because it is officially my first order from someone I don't know in some way or another, and two because I just love making things for sweet darling babies and their mommies.

Alaina picked a lovely Birch Organic fabric in grey, and then asked to have some butter yellow thrown in in a pleat.  :)  The white is just for the deck of the skirt which will go under the mattress.  I just finished washing and drying everything so I will get to ironing that once I sort out Lauren's twin bed quilt fabrics into individual blocks.

Christmas in July

So, we are now in the latter part of 2011.  Can you believe it?!  And you know what that means, don't you...bring out the Christmas decorations!!!!!

What?  Not yet?  Are you sure?  I think this is when I start seeing them in stores isn't it?  Well, okay.  Maybe not yet.  But, soon.  So we'll plan ahead a bit shall we?

I'm a big fan of personal gifts.  Handmade.  Homemade.  Last year I gave all of the ladies in the family 12x12 frames that I had turned into weekly calendars for menus or what have you using stick on vinyl.  Add a little easel and I think it was a hit.  :)

2 years ago when my son was just an itty bitty baby we made these angel footprint plates:

I thought I was a genius because he has the name of an angel, so it was perfect.  Each of the Grandparents got them.  Last year I didn't get to do one with my daughter because the thought of taking a 20 month old and a 3 month old in to a pottery shop to get it done didn't sound very appealing, but I think I may try it this year.  I mean...a 2 1/2 year old and a 1 year old has got to be better right?

Humor me.  And I have some ideas floating around in this noggin of mine already.  Do you have any ideas for Christmas gifts yet?  Or I am I scarily just that big of a planner?  (I blame my mom.)  ;)