I should be sewing and other titles...

Why yes, I have been working on something(s) while I've been neglecting this blog.
One was Arlo's birthday blanket/ quilt made from different colored bandannas and some train fabric that he chose all by himself. It made his crafty momma proud when he opened his gift and said "It's my train fabric that I picked out at the fabric store". yep, I start 'em young. Pictures of that quilt will come later because he's currently sleeping under it.

The second project was Maisy's christmas quilt. It's a scrap quilt in a semi-log cabin design. The picture is terrible but I thought better terrible than nothing. Also I had a planned on editing it but we have a newish computer that doesn't have the photo software that I know how to use. Hence, the alternate title "It's too damn late to be messing with photoshop".

(it looks waaaay better in person)

The third project is Arlo's christmas quilt. It too is a scrap quilt but in a nine patchish pattern. Right now it's in the beginning stages but I do have all the blocks sewn together and two of the rows sorta done so I'm pretty happy.


In other news, Facebook is depressing the hell out of me (also another potential title) There's just something about seeing everyone else's freakin' awesome lives (or so they seem) to make a girl a little down. Some days I question whether or not I should have stayed in the same town for going on 14 years now. I haven't been a lot of places or done all that many exciting things but if I hadn't stayed here well... I wouldn't have Maisy and Arlo which is more than a fair trade anyday. I just have to start planning my adventures for later in life and with some extra people.

Here's to doing more in life, being grateful for what I do have and actually changing instead of just bitching.

ps. Yes, those are my new floors in my living & dining room. I'm a lot in love.

I Love this Kid.

Happy Birthday, little man! I can't believe that you're a whole 3 years old.
You keep me laughing and smiling daily with your crazy antics and observations of the world.
I'm so glad that I'm your momma.

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me...

So I'm 32 today.
I figured since I do all my resolutions on my birthdays instead of New Years, I'd take inspiration from Angelina's post about Lists and write up mine.

So here goes, 32 things to do before I turn 33.

1) Be a better mother (This is always first and foremost)
2) Attempt to post more often. Once every couple of months just isn't cutting it.
3) Finish Maisy's scrap quilt
4) Finish Arlo's scrap quilt
5) Start Arlo's bandanna blanket
6) Finally work on Amy's Ugly Elvis Quilt
7) De-clutter my house
8) Visit Tucson again
9) Not buy any new fabric until I use what I have
10) Lose more weight (yeah, yeah, I know I say that every year. There's a lot to lose)
11) Get another tattoo
12) Learn how to knit (though I'm not sure I need another hobby)
13) Make more of my own clothes
14) Find some new good books to read
15) Start using the library more
16) Make a project wall (or whatever it is you call the thing you hang your quilt squares on)
17) Make more stuff with the kids
18) Keep going to the gym 3 mornings a week
19) Tell my friends how much I love and appreciate them more often.
20) Be Thankful for what I do have everyday
21) Get a bike
22) Start riding said bike to work
23) Tell my kids how much I love and appreciate them more often
24) Buy more grown up shoes (flip flops probably aren't the best "professional shoe" choice)
25) Cook more
26) Learn how to make really good cinnamon rolls
27) Plan Arlo's Thomas Birthday party (totally his choice)
28) Talk Maisy down from her birthday party plans (seriously, the girl has the invitations already made and her birthday isn't for 7 months!)
29) Make our halloween costumes (and find a non-slutty queen of hearts costume. It's harder than you'd think!)
30) Go camping with the kids
31) Write more thank you notes
32) Laugh & smile more

Whew.
That's a lot of stuff.
Thank goodness I've got a whole year.

What are your goals?

Ack, I can't think of a good title that doesn't talk about being gone so long.

Well, even though I've been gone I have been making things...

Paper piecing is actually a new favorite of mine. I got this pattern out of the summer Better Homes and Garden Quilt Magazine. Eventually they will be made into coasters or hot pads. I just love how easy they are to make & to bring along on trips and such. I kept all the stuff I needed in a ziplock bag and just grabbed one out when I had a moment. It was awesome. I totally want to make a whole quilt some day with these hexagon flowers . Somehow the magnitude of the project isn't daunting but makes it more appealing. To work on something that would truly be an heirloom quilt sounds just about perfect right now.


I've also been sucked into the addictive world of doll clothes. This cute outfit was made for Lori's daughter's Kit doll. It was a quick project made with a fat quarter and scraps. The added bonus was that I now understand how sleeves go on shirts without having to make a grown up one & potentially waste all that fabric. So see why it's addictive? It's fast, easy and teachers you clothing construction and if you add in the fact that I have a TON of fat quarters...well, Maisy is totally getting a bunch of clothes for her doll this Christmas!

Okay, that's it for now.
I don't want to over do it.
Though now that some of my free time has opened up, I should be posting a lot more.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

A little of this and that

This is new music that I've been loving!
By She & Him







And that is my little dude wearing a shirt that I embroidered.
It's a sweet hedgehog from Sublime Stitiching.

Still here...

Just busy with important things like:

Eating donuts with juggles on (not a spelling error, that's what they call them),

Riding bikes while wearing a fancy dress,

and hanging out at the local bar while my man takes pictures.

Thank goodness Matt finally uploaded pictures to his website or I'd have nothing to write about.

Hope you're all having a wonderful summer.

What I've been up to lately....

Adding to my state plate collection. These were a steal at the local antique mall and will go wonderfully with my Kansas plate. I figure if I just start with the states that I've actually visited then it won't get too crazy.... for now. Sewing more bags from Fat Quarters. This one was for ME!!! I found the fabric a while ago and just knew that it would be my new summer bag.
I think that's why I like to make these so much, they're fairly inexpensive (well under $10) so I don't feel bad when I want a new one.

I've also been working on some paper piecing but lost my first flower in the pit that is my craft room. Arrgh. Someday I'll find it and show you all even if I have to clean the whole damn place to find it. (which probably isn't a bad idea...)

So what have you all been up to?

Who's got time for the internets with all this kung fu fighting??

So, uh, hi.
Yeah, life got away from me again.
Still sewing. Really, I am.
I'll have pictures soon. I swear.

We survived the little girl's 6 yr. birthday. Still can't believe she's 6. Is this what it will feel like every year??? Even when she's 30 and I'm 55? I know I'll still be as proud of her. She's grown up so much.

What have you all been up to?
Anyone feel like coming to Lawrence for a get together??
I'm still nervous about showing everyone my house ('cause it's not fancy, AT ALL) but I figure I'll just drink until I'm not so worried. Right?

Hope everyone is having a wonderful summer so far.
Promise I'll be back in less than a month!

Fat Quarter Bag Tutorial

Okay, first time writing at tutorial so everyone bear with me...

You will need:
2 fat quarters
1 piece of canvas or cotton batting
matching thread

First, take the fat quarter that is going to be the outside of your bag. Fold it in half so that it is 18 inches wide and 11 inches tall. (Since not every fat quarter is the same, these are approximate measurements) Then cut off two - two inch strips for the handles.

Second, do the same for the fat quarter that will be the lining.

Third, sew the two inch pieces together with a 1/4 seam allowance making the two handles. Then turn and press.

Fourth, cut two strips- 1 1/2 or 1 3/4 inches wide from your canvas or cotton batting( I prefer cotton batting. It feels like it gives it some more depth and strength.) and thread those through the handles with a safety pin. I don't sew everything together at once because I really hate turning bulky things. Then once the cotton batting pieces are in place, top stitch 1/2 inch in on each side to stabilize the batting.
Fourth, (sorry no picture) cut out a piece of cotton batting the same size as the outside piece of your bag. Lay the fabric that is the outside of your bag on top of the batting with the right side facing outwards. If you are a diligent sewer and want to baste the batting to the fabric first then go ahead. I never have and so far haven't had any problems with it.

Fifth, once you have your batting and fabric together, fold both pieces with right sides facing and sew a 1/2 seam down each side Once done, press open each seam. Once you've pressed open each seam, flatten the bottom of one side (photo below) to make a triangle. Measure 2 inches on each side of the seam, mark with a pencil and sew across that line, then repeat on the other side. After that is done, repeat the same process for the lining of the bag but remember to leave an opening on the side of bag for turning.

Sixth, turn the outside fabric right side, push out the corners and the bag should look like this.

Seventh, pin your handles to the top of your bag and baste in place.

Eighth, pin the lining with right sides facing together and sew with a 1/2 inch seam allowance around the top.

Ninth, turn your bag through the opening in the side of the lining.

Tenth, tuck the lining inside the bag and press. Then topstitch 1/2 inch around the top of your bag.

Ta da! You're done!
Now put your stuff in it and go!!!


There are tons of ways you can adapt and make this bag even cooler.

You could:

• patchwork the outside and then quilt it
• appliqué cute things to it
• use some fabric scraps and make a pocket for the inside
• add a loop and a button for a closure
• make a fancy pin for the outside
  
• and if you're really careful with how you sew up the opening in the lining, it's actually reversible.
  

Thanks for sticking around. I'm sure I left out lots of important stuff so please feel free to leave a comment with any questions and I'll do my best to answer them. Have fun and enjoy your new bag!!

Not much going on here...

Am I an old woman because I'm glad the late night revelries are finally over in my neck of the woods for a while??

But if you would like to see more pics of this awesome chaos, check out Matt's new blog:
Henry Peach.


I promise I'll be back soon.
Really!
And with something crafty too.
Not necessarily a tutorial, but a view of the process.
You know, like having to show all your work on an algebra problem but in a crafty way.

I've been tagged or Holy Crap, Michelle's posting twice in two days!!

So the lovely Lauren tagged me for 7 things I think are lame. And well, that kind of meme is my kind of meme. I've got LOTS of things I think are lame but I'd like to start with something that I DO NOT think is lame.....My kids in cool hats. Maisy's is a KC Roller Warriors hat and Arlo's has a rooster on it.

Okay , now for 7 things I think are lame but that's just the short list 'cause I don't want you to think I'm bitter or anything:

1. Men who think it's cool to put fake "balls" on their trucks. I hate that so much I had to make it number one. And yes, I see it waay more than I'd like.

2. That there aren't enough hours in the day for everything. Seriously, I hate having to make the choice between cleaning my house, sewing cool things or blogging. And sadly, sitting on my ass wins out more often than I'd like to admit.

3. How my craft room became the house dumping ground. I have no idea how it gets so cluttered up but it think the world would stop if it stayed clean for more than 2 1/2 hours at a time.

4. That there are no cool gifts to sew for men. This one has irked me for years upon years and some day I will find a wicked cool solution.

5. Right now I feel that cold weather is very lame.
"Hey Kansas! I am officially tired of this cold stuff bring on the spring!!!!"
( and yes, this complaint will be made again in august about the heat.)

6. For number six, I have to agree with Lauren and say that my inability to post with any kind of consistency falls into the lameness category. I'm not saying I'm going to change, just that I acknowledge and accept my lameness willingly.

7. People who shoot off fireworks in my neighborhood while I'm attempting to get my children to sleep. Yes, I know we made it to the Final Four (woo hoo, go KU!!) and yes, I'm very excited about it but if you keep setting off those fireworks you're gonna have one angry mama on your hands. (ps. this also goes for the band across the street!! If you play until 2am again, I'm totally gonna knock on your door in my jammies without a bra. It's a frightening sight that you won't recover from quickly so think again next time you have a party.)

Whew, that was probably more than you wanted to know but hey, that's what keeps things fun around here. Right?
Seriously, right???


I tag Evie and Erin.

I may have a problem.......

see, this picture is not a good representation of the truth. The terrible truth that I have an addiction to fat quarters. Yes, I can hear your gasp of disbelief but it's true. As I cleaned out my craft room, I kept finding these darling little rolls of fabric. And then I found more that I had untied bringing the total of fat quarters to ....well, just too many to count. These are just a few of the fat quarters I recently purchased. I've even gotten Maisy in on my addiction, while I was picking out my own fabrics I let her loose to pick out her own fat quarters to use for doll clothes. Should I be worried or proud that she quickly picked out numerous favorites in no time flat?
What's not helping with my addiction is the realization that two fat quarters and some canvas (for the straps) makes a darn cute bag.
yep. That little discovery isn't helping one bit.

Just coastin' along

Lately all I've been making are coasters. I've enjoyed them because they're so simple and quick. I don't feel bogged down by a large project They started out as a cute valentine's day gift for a few people and grew and grew.

Sock monkey polka dots with appliquéd heart out of more sock monkey fabric.

I couldn't resist these two fat quarters because I knew they'd make some adorable 50's esque coasters.

I also tried my hand at the Criss Cross Coasters by Allsorts. These are painfully simple but all the cutting kicked my behind. It requires 6 squares per coaster and while that's not too hard, all that math made my brain hurt late at night.

And the coaster that started it all. An appliqué heart out of the Prints Charming Fabric I had left over from my sister in law's bag.


I have been working on other things but I'll wait to show those later. Hope everyone is having a wonderful Spring Break!! I know I am.

Down but not out

I attempted earlier to be clever and witty.
It didn't turn out well.
So you just get plain ol' me saying that life is crazy but I'll be back soon with some cool stuff....Hopefully.
And when I get back, I'll start checking out everyone's blogs again because lately there just hasn't been time.

Why don't we hibernate in the winter??
Because I could really use the sleep.

Take care!

Finally something for me.

Here it is, finally, my consolation bag.

It's a little bigger than I meant it to be but I think it should work out well.

It's even got the pockets I like so much.
I'm a happy gal.

Even if I did have to make it myself.

Really, I have been meaning to.

Gah.
What happened to my new year's fresh start?
All that enthusiasm for making new things?

Actually it's still here, sorta. Just with single digit temps, sitting on the couch sounds more enjoyable that sitting in my cold sewing room. Yes, I know, poor me.

Well, here's my growing project list that some day I need to tackle.
Maybe it will motivate me or something.....

- finish birthday present for a certain someone. See, I haven't been completely lazy.

- Consolation bag for me!

- Sunglass case for me. I finally have a pair of sunglasses that I love! Trouble is I have to keep them in the car so I won't break or scratch them in my purse but then they are cold when I put them on and they fog up too much. Anyone know of a good pattern for sunglass holders?

- The infamous Ugly Elvis Quilt - It's not infamous yet but it will be.

- Birthday present for my mom. I have no idea what it is yet but I better figure it out before March 17th!

- Twirly skirts for the little girl.

- Shorts for the little man.

- Various dolls, softees, quilts and whatever else I've managed to forget or that will insert itself onto the list at a later date.


Okay, that's it for now. No reason to make myself ill when I still have 11 months until Christmas.
Hope all of your new year projects are going better than mine!

Not much crafty over here

Trying to get this little dude to sleep in his big boy bed is murdering my crafty time!

Oh, well. At least he's cute.

Resolutions and the art of quilting

This year I wasn't able to make very many handmade gifts but I was able to make each of the kids a small quilt and a bear. You all know about Arlo's quilt. He seems to like it so I'm pretty happy. Maisy's quilt is just some Hello Kitty flannel and white flannel. It turned out alright in the end but it was one of "THOSE" projects.

First, I put it off until the last possible moment thinking that I had plenty of time and um, fabric. But when I went to my stash, I realized that my memory was PAINFULLY wrong and I did not have nearly as much fabric as I thought. Hence, the stripes. Then when I was cutting everything, I realized that the Hello Kitty fabric was not 45" wide but a mere 41". After a lot of cursing, I pieced together two 3"x60" strips and put a border on the sides. After that , it was mostly smooth sailing. We don't talk about the fact that one end is wider than the other, it's just not polite conversation.

All in all, I'm really pleased with both quilts. They have become our favorite blankets to snuggle under and have really inspired me to quilt more.

So here come the resolutions:

1. I'm going to be more darning in my projects. I take a very safe route when sewing and I want to experiment more, get a better eye for color and combinations. Worry less about being perfect and focus more on learning.

2. I'm going to make more things for myself.
I love making things for other people and that's not going to stop. I'm just going to fit in more projects for myself because I should get to benefit too.

3. I'm going to find a way to get Maisy more involved in sewing. She has an interest just not the attention span but I really believe that if she worked on it, she would love it.
(I hope.)

4. I'm going to make more quilts. Some from my own design, some from patterns.

5. I'm going to clean my sewing room.
Actually clean is an understatement, I'm going to make my sewing room into a place that I want to be. A place that I can have other crafty people come over, sit comfortably, chat and work. This is my largest goal but the most important.

Okay, I'm going to stop at 5. I could go on and on and on but I want these to be do-able, attainable goals.

So here's wishing everyone a creative, kind and peaceful 2008!
May we all have a wonderful new year.

It's my 100th post, but don't get too excited.

Really, I'm not kidding.
Sadly, I have no gifts to send out, no drawings to host or snazzy suggestions for a swap.
It's just me and some more stuff I made and my oh, so brilliant wit. (hee hee)

This is a little tote that I made for Christmas. I used some of the Amy Butler "lotus" pattern. The design is very simple. It's just 13 x17 rectangles and I squared the bottom. I used canvas as the interfacing and made a cardboard bottom to give it some stability.

The lining isn't what I initially wanted but we were hit by a pretty big snow storm and I wasn't able to make it to the fabric store so I worked with what I had. I think it turned out pretty well.

In all honesty, I liked this bag so much that I had to buy "condolence fabric" and promise myself that I'd make one for me that was just as nice. And actually, that project is at the top of my list.

I do love the promise of a new year. Maybe that's why they put Christmas in December... so that when the new year comes around, we're all ready to slow down and just enjoy things for a while.

Here's wishing everyone a peaceful new year!

Favorite Things - December 2007 edition

so, uh, I've been pretty terrible at this blogging thing lately. I think it has something to do with the fact that I've almost hit 100 posts and for some reason that makes me anxious, or maybe it's the holidays, or being busy or being tired or.....Who knows!?! and Who cares!?!
But I do know that I want to make it up to you in my own small way, so here are some of my favorites of this holiday season.....

Latch Hook rug my Grandma made me 25 yrs ago. He actually gets to stay up all the way through January because he's cool like that.

My cheesy 1970's decorations.

My christmas gorilla given to me by my best friend/ neighborhood when I was 5.

My impromptu tree topper. I lost my favorite star a while ago and have been searching for just the right something to put on top of our tree. The other night an idea comes to me! Just put this cute little elf in front of a crocheted snow flake and voila! Vintagie, funky little tree topper.

Works in progress- 2 bears to match the quilts for the kids. I love this pattern. It goes together quickly and only uses a 1/4 of a yard!

And last but not least, my 3 favorite people all together in the same picture.

Here's hoping that everyone is enjoying their favorite people, places and things this holiday season!