G'ma Miller's 89th Birthday Quilt

My Grandma Miller has made quilts for all of her grandchildren (25 in total) and who knows who else. She is a quilting machine!! I thought it was her turn to be on the receiving end for once, so I whipped up a bordered periwinkle quilt for her. She loves flowers and this colorful fabric line reminded me of a beautiful garden. Her birthday is tomorrow, but mom was there visiting over the weekend so she took it to Gram and I got to watch her open it over google hangouts. She loved it, and I am happy for that. She's a pretty amazing lady. Happy Birthday, Gram!

Diagonal HST Quilt

Here is the finished diagonal half square triangle quilt for Maggie and Tom's baby boy. They are due mid-February so it is time to get this thing in the mail!

I Haven't Stopped Sewing!

I didn't stop sewing in July, I just haven't gotten around to posting any of my projects for the past 5 months! I made an extra-long twin size bed quilt for Silas. This was a fun project, a twist on the traditional log cabin block. It took forever to cut all the fabric, but once that was finished the piecing went rather quickly. Besides being too huge for his bed, I think he liked it.

I made several monkeys this Christmas. Cousin monkeys for Peter and Lainey, and another for Lilly, the daughter of a friend. I am hoping Peter becomes attached to Spidey, whenever I hand Spidey over to Peter he grins and gives him a big hug. Super cute. I hope Lainey loves her monkey, too, but it might be a little while before she has much of a reaction to her!

                

I also made fabric books for Peter and Lainey. These were fun to make. I took Peter down the costume aisle at Hancock Fabrics and he picked out the sparkly fabrics. He's really into textures and striking patterns right now, so it holds his attention for a good 5 minutes before it's time to move onto something else.

And now I am working on this baby quilt for some friends in Santa Barbara who are expecting a boy in February. I have the quilt top together, I am just waiting for backing and binding fabric to come in the mail any day now. I used the half square triangle scraps from Lainey's pow wow quilt to make this one, so it didn't take that long to put it together.

I am not sure what 2015 will bring in terms of sewing, but Peter is on the verge of crawling so I'm guessing the prospects are not good. We'll see what I can get done!!

Baby Banana Pants' Pow-Wow Quilt

Peter took a three hour nap this morning that allowed me to get the quilting done on Baby Banana Pants' quilt. I decided on straight lines down the length of the quilt in sets of three, two and three. It's hard to see in the photo, and it didn't photograph well, so you'll just have to trust me. Later in the afternoon he was happy to sit in his swing and watch me bind the quilt. Peter was very cooperative; his cousin will have to thank him someday as I wasn't sure I was ever going to get this done, or at least not in time for BBP's arrival.

When I went to make the backing a couple of weeks ago I thought I remembered how to make the arrow blocks so I set in without re-reading the directions. This is the result of not re-reading the directions; I guess I didn't actually remember. Mike commented that he liked it and thought it was cool because it was complimentary but not identical. So yeah, I meant to do that!

I can't say that this is my favorite quilt I've ever made. I underestimated how much white was in the prints, and I think the prints are too large for the pattern. I should have gotten fabric that was more solid with smaller prints. Oh well, not every quilt can be my favorite. The important thing is that it is made with lots of love! I can't wait to meet BBP in October!!

Baby C's Quilt

Mike gave me a Sew Steady extension table for my sewing machine this past Christmas. I finally got to use it while quilting Baby C's quilt. It is different from what I am used to, so it took a little adjusting, but the extra room to work is great. I think it will be especially useful for smaller quilts that I might want to do free form quilting on.

Anyway, I finished the quilt last Friday, but it was raining most of the day Friday and Saturday so today was the first opportune day to take some photographs. So here it is:

Baby C's Quilt Top

I finished the quilt top for Baby C today. The partial seams were much easier to conquer than I initially imagined, but the pattern directions were good, which helped. This was a slightly tedious quilt top to put together with all the 1 inch white sashing between the colored blocks, but it helps break up the colors, so I'm glad it's there. With the colors all mixed up, it doesn't look like a rainbow, so I'm happy about that. Once my Jo Ann order arrives with batting and a thread stand (so I can use some of the thread Grandma Miller gave me), I'll be set to quilt and bind this thing. Just two months to go until baby arrives, so I hope the supplies come soon!

A Quilt for Baby C

After suffering through our second trip to the DMV in as many days, we, meaning I, celebrated the successful issuance of our vehicle registrations and South Carolina drivers licenses with a stop at Hancock Fabrics. Mike was very patient as I first slowly browsed the fabric options and then started the long process of putting bolts of fabric in the cart, putting them back on the shelf, and so on and so forth, until I found just the right combination of fabrics. Although the fabrics are more rainbow colored than I imagined in my head during the planning phase, I am happy with the colors and their coordination with the wall cards we purchased for the nursery.

I am going to make the quilt pictured below. It is a little tricky as it requires partial seams, which I've never used before. I always enjoy learning a new sewing technique, so I'm looking forward to getting started. Mike starts work officially this coming Monday so I'll have lots of time to get this put together.

Just as a side note, at the fabric cutting counter I joked with Mike that this was probably his worst nightmare of a day -- the DMV and then a trip to the fabric store. He was a good sport and that's just one reason why I love him and am thankful for him :)

Hexie Quilt

 

Mom and dad sent me a few charm packs for my birthday along with a half hexie ruler. I decided to "regift" the fabric back to them in the form of a finished quilt this Christmas. It should help keep them warm in the subzero Iowa temperatures!

Amy Butler Kimono Robes

I made these two robes as Christmas presents for Megan and Anne. The pattern didn't have instructions for a liner, but that was easy to add. I used flannel to make them nice and warm. They will probably too warm for summer use, but nice and cozy for the winter. I am a little disappointed we couldn't find a blue flannel to match the blue robe, but otherwise, I'm pretty happy with them.

Toddler Clothes

Tasha mentioned that Miss Libby -- the Purple Princess -- refuses to wear pants and doesn't have many winter dresses, so I decided to make her a couple. I purchased a jumper pattern and it turns out patterns for apparel have all sorts of strange language -- it was so much more confusing than a quilt pattern!  I got most of it down, except the zipper. The directions were impossible to understand so I just improvised (and not very well). Anyway, I made her two jumpers -- one out of fabric left over from the backpack and one from an old pair of Mike's jeans (I even used the zipper). The dresses are lined so with a long sleeve shirt (which we spent at least an hour looking for) underneath and a pair of tights (white for the plaid dress and light purple with dark purple polkadots for the jean dress), she should stay nice and warm during the winter. Let's just hope the dresses fit...

I also made Silas a pair of pj bottoms out of his leftover backpack fabric. Talk about simple! I used this pattern and tutorial: http://www.danamadeit.com/2008/07/tutorial-and-pattern-kid-pants-the-basic-pants.html. If I didn't already have some flannel pajamas I would totally be making myself some!

Silas' Backback

I am a little worried that Silas' backpack turned out a little girly. The orange/yellow/blue combination seemed more boyish in the store than when it all got put together :( I might have to make him a new one...

Libby's Birthday Backpack

I started working on a backpack for Libby's 3rd birthday last weekend and finished it up today. She loves Dora, and Dora has a purple backpack, so I figured Libby should have a purple backpack, too. I didn't want to make her a replica of Dora's backpack because it's not very exciting, so hopefully Libby won't mind that her's is not completely purple and doesn't have a face on it? Tasha will have to do her, "Libby, I LOVE your purple backpack" act so she goes along with it.

I used this pattern -- http://www.made-by-rae.com/2009/03/finally-here-toddler-backpack-pattern/ -- and made a couple of additions - a front pocket and a side mesh pocket for a water bottle.

I have fabric to make Silas an orange backpack like Diego. His will be next weekend's project.

Mike's Disc Golf Bag

Thanks to Mitchell and Brody's disc diving excursions in Branson, Mike outgrew his disc golf bag from mom. He's been toting around a sort of unwieldy bag and has been wanting a new bag. When I hit up JoAnn's yesterday, I found some native american inspired fabric that he approved via pic-messaging (it's hard to find fabric for guys). I drew up a simple pattern after making my bag (and Krista's) and basically just doubled the size, added a stabilized divider to help give it some shape and made a bigger front pocket. It fits all of Mike's discs and then some. Maybe a little bigger than he wanted, but it'll do the job.

Lone Star Quilt for Baby Girl Berberet

Not sure what I am going to do the rest of Labor Day weekend as I finished the quilt for Stephanie's baby. She is due October 8th so I'm not too far ahead of the game on this one. It is a pretty small quilt -- about 36 x 36 -- good thing babies are small!

I realized too late that I forgot the quilt label. Oh well!

Caterino Wall Hook Sign and Kitchen Chalkboard

Now that we are all moved and have things on the walls at the new house, I can finally post pictures of the Caterino wall hook sign and the kitchen chalkboard. Both are quite useful.

Repurposed Cabinet Doors

I found two old cabinet doors in the small shed outside. I decided to repurpose them into art! I am making a kitchen chalkboard out of one and a entranceway sign that will serve as a coat/purse/key hanger.

I started with two of these:

I sanded and painted the frames today. The chalkboard got a red frame (to match our kitchen aid mixer) and the entranceway frame is white. This is what I have now:

And this is my vision for the final product:

I am in the process of ordering a decal with our last name. There are tons of options out there, but I've got a couple of cool ones picked out on Etsy. We'll see if either of them can accommodate the size I need. More to come on these soon!

A Glorious Green Table

Here she is in all her green glory! I learned that painting furniture is not really my thing -- I'd rather just spray paint it and have it over with. It is a ridiculously long process and I don't have the patience for painting, waiting for the paint to dry, sanding, painting, waiting for the paint to dry, sanding, painting and on and on! I gave up on putting four coats of Minwax on -- that is just crazy. I might try and put one or two more coats on the top of the table since it will be the most exposed to the elements. But then again, a table cloth might do instead!

Now I'm on a mission to find a mix of chairs to put around the table. If they need painting, I'll go with spray paint for sure!!

Lone Star Quilt

I've been working up quilt ideas for my friend Stephanie who is having a baby girl in October. Lone star quilts are popping up all over quilting blogs these days and I've been wanting to work with diamond pieces again since making the Argyle quilt last year, so I thought this would be a good opportunity. I also had the right number of different fabrics (left over from Libby's quilt), and they were the right length the pattern called for, so it was perfect. Oh, and I also have to learn a new skill -- Y Seams -- to make this quilt, so another plus to chalk up on the board. With all of that going for it, I jumped in and put this together in about 3 hours last night. Once I put in the background pieces, it will be about 32 inches square. I'm hoping I have enough fabric to make another 1/2 lone star and then I'll offset the two and have a good size baby quilt. I should mention this looks much more complicated than it is, here's the tutorial I followed:
http://betteroffthread.com/2012/08/19/scrappy-lone-star-tutorial-part-1/

Primed and Ready for Color Coat

Mike and I spent a good bit of the 4th of July priming all the table pieces. We put on two coats of Zinnser Bulls Eye 1-2-3 Primer. Now it's ready for the color coat. We're heading out the door to start now...

Painting Furniture - A New Adventure

Mike and I found a super old table in the garage (it's probably an antique) and when Gene died, the son said it wasn't theirs so we could do what we wanted with it. Mike wanted to dump it, but I wanted to keep it, so we dusted it off and I've decided to try and bring it back to life with hopes that it can live on the deck of our new house. It is a funky old table. It has a leaf in the middle with a cool folding mechanism that stores the leaf under the table (I just googled it and it is called a butterfly leaf). The legs also separate, so the table can either be a little higher than coffee table height, or normal table height. A bit strange, I'm not sure why a table would be designed this way. It also has a decorative trim that looks burned into the wood. It is pretty variable in depth, so I'm going to fill it will wood filler to try and smooth it out around the edges.

I've been getting some inspiration and more importantly, information, on how to paint furniture from centsationalgirl's website. She does some wonderous things to old, beat up furniture. I doubt my first attempt will be as fantastic as anything she has done, but hopefully it'll be good enough to enjoy a card game and a glass of wine around.

Here are some before pictures of the table (I remembered to take them right before I was about to start sanding).

Table top with leaf:

Table leg base:

Decorative trim burned into the wood:

The folding mechanism for the leaf:

I've taken the table mostly apart, sanded it, filled in scratches and the trim with wood filler and primed the base.  I hope to make some more progress this weekend, so check back for more pictures soon!