Apologies and a Baby Mobile

My goal last week was to post four new items to the blog. If you weren't paying attention, that didn't happen. I was so proud of myself to have four new items to show all of you. But Tuesday of last week dawned and I realized that while I had been sewing and crafting to my heart's content, I had kind of let my house go. Now, this normally wouldn't be a problem but we were having guests come into town to stay with us that weekend and we were going to a wedding Friday night. All of a sudden getting my house in semi-working order became priority #1 over sewing, photography and blogging. Plus, it is getting harder to move as quickly as I want to as this sweet baby gets closer and closer to being born.

So, my apologies. 

But I do have a great craft to show you. And let me tell you, I am SO PROUD of this little gem for many, many reasons. 

First, there was no pattern for me to follow. I was inspired by a picture I saw -probably somewhere on Pinterest-and just started started playing around with ideas. 

Second, I was able to use supplies that I had laying around the house. The only thing I bought was a $1.49 spool of ribbon. I was also able to re-purpose something that usually we would throw out. 

Third, it turned out SO. DARN. CUTE.

I present to you: the baby's mobile!

Isn't it cute????

Here's what I started with

My workstation: the kitchen table

 I used some leftover felt from a project that I abandoned earlier this ear, plastic to make templates, scissors, a chalk pencil, scrap paper, and (not pictured) my iPad to trace a raindrop to make a template.

The templates

 You will notice when I originally started I was going to have raindrops hanging from the clouds but when I was sewing them together they didn't look all that awesome. They also kind of looked like teardrops which I wasn't really going for, so I switched it out for hearts.

Cloud

 I have another project to show you that uses clouds in it as well and used that template to make the clouds for the mobile.

Triangles for the sun. I used a bowl for the sun

Making the tent on top

 I was all done with this bad boy but it looked a little naked up top. I had taken apart the boats that had hung from my son's mobile and using that to hang the clouds and such. So, I looked at the tent topper (I have no idea what it is called) and kind of used that as a template to make the top for this mobile.

Hemming

 I kept on playing with the top to make it work. I hemmed it first and put it on the mobile; realized I needed to baste down the edges of the hem and then sewed a little diagonal hem about 1/2" from all four corners so the prongs of the mobile would fit inside.

Isn't it lovely?

I'm so stinking proud of that top. Plus, I think it really finishes it. 

Now, all I have to do is find the mechanism that attaches to the mobile that makes it turn and plays music. I know it's around here somewhere but if I can't find it, I think the baby will like it anyway. My son and daughter do; they keep on asking to get in the crib to play with it.

Yay! One more project done!

The Baby Quilt Top is Done!

If you have been following the blog you might know that my husband and I are expecting our third child this summer, a little girl! I started my own tradition where I have made baby quilts for each of the kids. I love the idea that they go to sleep each night wrapped in a blanket that I have made--although they usually don't start using them until they are a little older to have a blanket around them. The quilts I have made for my oldest daughter and son are dragged around everywhere-their newest thing is after breakfast to go get their "blankie" or "kee kee" from their  rooms and then lay on the couch and look at books after I have snuggled them into place. It's really super cute. Makes my heart melt.

I really should take a picture of them and post them on the site.

But back to this quilt. This quilt is HUGE, which I like since then she will be able to wrap herself in it  and pretend she is a shepherd, a princess, or anything else she wants and be nice and warm.

I had to get my husband to act as my model and hold up the quilt for me so I could get some good shots of it.

Even though they caused much gnashing of teeth, I love the mini pinwheels in all four corners!

My only real complaint with this quilt is I dislike that the white background fabric wrinkles so darn easily. If I had to do it over again I would have chosen one with a small pattern in it. But, as we all know, hindsight is always 20/20. 

I wasn't even going to attempt to quilt this one myself. Luckily, my husband's cousin has a long arm quilting machine and she has agreed to quilt it for me. Once I get it back from her I will post pictures of the final project!

Summer Welcome for this Busy Mama

I just realized that it has been 11 days since I have posted anything and that's just not right. I looked around this weekend and realized I had two projects completely finished and two quilts that just need to be quilted.  I can't believe how productive I have been---oh wait, my house-while not in shambles-does need some attention. Oh well! I have four projects done!

To be completely honest, I have had the counted cross stitch portion of this one done for quite some time, I just wasn't sure how to frame it. It sat in the hoop for so long that I began to like the simplicity of it so I found a wooden hoop lying around the house and painted it pink. I'm not sure I entirely like the color of the hoop but for the time being it's not too shabby.

Don't worry: the frame is not THAT hot pink, it just kind of photographed that way. 

I really like this little wall hanging. I love it pretty much for its simplicity: there's no back-stitching, there's only a few colors but the little strawberry buttons give it such a nice touch! If I remember correctly, I had this little guy done in only a few short days. You can't beat it!

I grew up in Arizona where I never really welcomed Summer but since living in the Pacific Northwest for past 10+ years, I definitely welcome it now!

This sweet little number was designed by Waxing Moon Designs. However, they do not sell at the retail level. So if you go to their website and find something you like you can select their "Where to Find Our Patterns" page and hopefully find it there.  I know I bought mine online but I can't remember when I bought this or where I bought this, so you might have to do a little internet research.

More posts coming up shortly to show you some other things I have been working on!

Bad days lead to bad sewing

You ever have one of those days when nothing seems to go right? That was me on Wednesday. I had all these great plans to get stuff done. The kids had eaten a good breakfast. I had made healthy snacks to take with us as we ran errands so I could get more done with less whining. I had my list, ready to go.

But there was one problem.

I couldn't find my keys.

They were nowhere to be found.

Oh wait! I found them!

On the front seat of my car.

My LOCKED car.

And I couldn't find the spare valet key.

Big. Deep. Breath.

That evening when I showed my daughter what we were going to have for dinner, her response was, "I'm not going to eat that."

Big. Deep. Breath.

So after a trying day-there was a temper tantrum in there and I realized I had forgotten to take the laundry out of the washer the day before and it smelled kind of funny- followed by a trying dinner, I got my beautiful children down for the night and sat down to make mini pinwheels for the baby's quilt, happy at last to get at least one thing accomplished.

Well, you know how in my last post I wrote how I love to iron and see all the points come together perfectly? After ironing over 100 1 3/4" half-square triangles-and subsequently giving myself "ironing elbow," a new medical condition that is totally valid-and then piecing them together to make cute little pinwheels for the outer border, I open up my sweet little squares to see this:

 When it should have looked like this:

I think out of the 20 mini pinwheels I made at least a quarter-maybe a third-came out wrong.

Big. Deep. Breath.

My iron was not bringing forth tidings of great joy in the form of perfectly formed pinwheels.

At that point, I just walked away.

The piecing begins!

I love piecing.

Actually, if I am to be totally honest, I really love the ironing part of piecing. When I iron the pieces together and see a perfect point has been made or the final design comes together, I am filled with a great sense of satisfaction. It makes me happy.

Plus, I love the smell of steam and cotton. But maybe that's just me. Side note:  when my mom comes into town she usually takes over all the ironing for me-God bless her- and I love sitting and talking with her while she irons because it smells so good-a hot iron, steam, cotton and lots of spray starch. It's a very comforting smell for me.

Anyway, I like piecing.

My three-year-old says it looks like the sewing machine is pooping!

Yes, you do see where I literally marked where to sew. I'm sure there was/is an easier way to do this step but this was how I did it. Don't worry, I used a fabric marker that is water soluble. This quilt called for two seams-one down the diagonal and then a second one 1/2" away-and then you cut between the two of them

Piecing away

Putting the blocks together.

Decided that all four pieces matching was boring. 

Oops! Nicked the corner there with the ol' rotary  cutter!

One whole completed block. Just need 24 more!

By the way, the name of quilt is called Jelly Roll Jive. You can find it here at A Graceful Stitch. What's pretty awesome about this pattern is that it is actually two patterns in one simply by changing a seam a whole new quilt emerges. 

The fabric I am using is a jelly roll by Moda called Sakura Park. I checked the Moda website and they don't sell it as a jelly roll. I also checked on FatQuarterShop.com and they are out of stock. But I'm sure if you want to get your hands on it a quick internet search will do the trick.

I originally saw this quilt at a quilt store in Sumner, WA called the Quilt Barn about three years ago and loved it. I also bought the jelly roll for this quilt at the same place about a month ago. If you live in the Seattle/Tacoma area, check them out!

Alright, as I continue to progress with the quilt, I will add more posts. 

Also wanted to invite you to send comments here on the blog or join the conversation on the Facebook page. You can follow me on Facebook by clicking on the link on the right hand side.