Crafty Baby Stuff

Warning ~ lots of baby related stuff ahead but I promise 99% of it is crafty related too! :-)

My friend Marika  is an amazing sewer and has an adorable Etsy shop for baby clothes and accessories. (Click on her name to view it!)

She was sweet enough to send me a few items for our baby boy that is on the way.

This is one of my favorite Heather Ross prints. The fabric is organic cotton from Spoon Flower and o my goodness it is so soft! Can't wait to put him in this snuggly little outfit when he gets here!

Last week I also received this awesome little surprise in the mail. She knows how  much I love foxes ... aren't these the coolest pants you've ever seen??

It is wonderful having thoughtful and talented friends who make you baby stuff. I enjoy making quilts and similar items, but have never tried clothes. She is a genius at coming up with new ideas for her shop and I love everything she makes. Will definitely post pictures in the future of him sporting these cute little MOCCreations items!

I also had my baby shower this past weekend which was a lot of fun. Lots of my closest local friends showed up and we had a great time.

My mom was in charge of the decorations and with the help of her creative genius and Silhouette Cameo cutting machine, here are some of the decorations she made, which now adorn the baby corner of our craft/guest/baby multi-purpose room.

I love everything she made for the shower. The banner and monster wreath are my favorites! Here are a few more pictures of some of the cool decorations she made ~ it is awesome having a talented mom who loves crafty things too!

Aren't those cupcake eyes so cute? I hate throwing them away after I eat the cupcakes (woo hoo for leftovers haha). And the pompom monsters were spread out throughout my friend's house ... too cute! 

Still trying to figure out what I can do with these 3 for an additional baby room decorations ~ they match the current decor perfectly!

As you have probably guessed, the theme was monsters because I am sure any child of mine will be a little monster :) Plus I love anything dino/monster related! A friend who knows me o so well made the monster in the crib picture above - it has a see through plastic pouch on its belly for holding items - such as the pacifiers she put in there as an additional gift. Such a cute and cool baby gift!

Another friend crocheted this adorable monster hat with matching slippers, love them!!

Last but not least, I made a couple small monsters as prizes for the games we played. It was hard to give them away, they would fit with the baby decor so well! Guess I'll just have to make more!

So as you can see, lots of crafty goodness being enjoyed around here lately as we get ready for our little monster to join the family. I have several other projects I'd like to work on for him before he gets here, but I lack the energy and motivation most days at work ... so we'll see what happens. 

Hope everyone is staying warm and safe with all this widespread crazy weather we've been having across the USA lately! They are calling for 4-6 more inches of snow tomorrow in our area, I am soooooooooo hoping they are wrong!!

January Finish ~ in the nick of time!

It is a good thing I challenged myself to participate in  "A lovely year of finishes" otherwise I would have just further procrastinated completing Henry's baby blanket. As it is, I'm done only a few hours away from the linky party closing - ack!

I still have a few hours to link up tho, and 8 more weeks til this baby boy arrives, so I'll take that as a success :)

Without further ado, my January project - Henry's quilt for use when he is in his carseat. Fun log cabin on the front, soft warm minky on the back. I love it... and want one big enough for myself. I don't think 28 x 28 would cover much of me but it will be perfect for him :)

We'll see if I can muster up the energy to first find a project for February (I have tons of UFOs somewhere but digging them out is the issue!) and then finish it! I may end up sitting out the next few months ... we shall see.

Thanks for the motivation Shanna! I love this yearly initiative and seeing what everyone else has made.

A lovely year of finishes - January goal

I saw that "A lovely year of finishes" is beginning again on Flikr and figured hey ... maybe this will motivate my sleepy pregnant butt to get something done this year!

Sooooooo ........ without further ado, here is my January goal:

A carseat quilt for Henry ~ my son who will be born at the end of March (12 more freaking weeks... I may not make it that long! lol)

I wanted to make him a cute travel blanket for his carseat and these are the colors I chose for him. Green is my favorite color, blue is my husband's favorite color ... and well, orange looks good with almost anything in my opinion ;-) This top is 30 x 30, the perfect car seat size I think without too much hangover on the sides.

I just need to get some minky for the bank and finish this beauty but as simple as that may sound, all I want to do is sleep after work so it will definitely take some effort for me to finish on time! Keep your fingers crossed for me... 23 more days left this month!

Bring on the holiday sewing bug!

I forced myself not to sign up for the holiday round of the Pillow Talk Swap but I've really enjoyed seeing all of the beautiful pillows everyone has been making. It inspired me to make some Christmas pillows for our couch this year. I had a little spare time and this fun log cabin quilt was born:

It is so bright and cheerful, just what our couch needed. I have a few ideas saved on Flikr for a couple more pillows ... just have to find the time and energy to get them done! (Way easier said than done... second trimester might be easier but I sure don't feel  "normal" nor anywhere near "energized"!)

Otherwise, I've been working on a few presents. First up is a baby blanket for my co-worker who is due this weekend. The poor girl looks ready to pop, I sure hope she does ... she needs to snuggle her little girl and get over this misery that is pregnancy! I made her a simple car seat quilt with minky on the back, I think it turned out cute and snuggly for her new little darling.

Last but not least, I finished up a table runner for my mom as a belated birthday present, just in time for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday!

I haven't sewn for months so it feels so good to get so much accomplished, especially in just a few days! Hopefully I will have more to show before the holidays as I work on more Christmas pillows and maybe some decorations.

I hope everyone has a lovely Thanksgiving week with family and friends and lots of yummy yummy food! Stay safe and warm!

Guest Blogging at Sew Sweetness ~ Purse Palooza

Hello! I finally sat down and got some sewing in this past weekend, woo hoo! 

Check out my guest post at Sara of Sew Sweetness' Purse Palooza 2013! 

After finally pushing myself through the non-sewing rut with this project and deadline, I feel ready to get back to my stash and machine. Online classes and work are keeping me busy but hopefully you'll hear more from me in the next weeks than in the past few months and hopefully I can keep up more with what you my awesome sewing friends are up to as well!

Happy sewing everyone!

(Long Overdue) ~ Mayhem in Paradise Retreat Recap

Without further delay ~ a recap in photos of the first annual "Mayhem in Paradise" craft retreat!

A recipe for success for any retreat:

1. Good friends and a fantastic house to stay in

Gina, Carla, January, Deb, Whitney, Julie, Tiffany, + Lyanna (missing from photo)

January, Whitney, Julie, Lyanna, Deb, Carla

2. Good food

"Always good" pretzel shop - best thing EVER!! :)

Mmmm pretzels!

Free ice cream at Burkholder's Fabric Shop

Best homemade root beer sold by adorable little amish girls on a farm

Ooey gooey o so yummy smores by Gina

3. Fantastic fabric shops in Lancaster, PA with great sales and wonderful merchandise

Whitney and Deb

Julie and January

Me buying WAY too much fabric!

4. Generous "Doggiebag" goodies from our Sponsors - Fat Quarter Shop, Stitches & Giggles, and The Old Country Store

5. And lots and lots and LOTS of SEWING!!

Julie - the binding elf

Me concentrating on paper piecing

Gina - the amazing terrarium design genius

Hard at work - January, Julie, and Whitney

6. Last but not least, unending jokes about Intercourse, PA - the best little town for fabric and pretzels in Lancaster County, PA

Couldn't we all use a little more in our lives? Miss you girls!! :)

As you can see, it was a long wonderful weekend with friends and I am very much looking forward to Mayhem 2014!

One more week til "Mayhem in Paradise" ~ A sewing retreat

Wooooooo hoooooooooooo....... a week from yesterday our sewing retreat will begin in Paradise, PA and I couldn't be more excited!!

Sewing, shop hopping, friends, and lots of fun... what more can I ask for? Ok, cookies, let's work some cookies into that equation lol.

Stay tuned for lots of project updates from the past few months I've had to keep secret as well as pictures and posts about the retreat :)

Hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

Paper Piecing - My first block!

Even tho I took a class in paper piecing at the Sewing Summit last year, I never even finished a block, just a couple sections of the block I was supposed to be making. We ran out of time, I messed up one block when I was at home... long story short, it is on the WIP pile and may even be lost, who knows lol.

Recently tho, I saw a really cute star block on Pinterest from Sew Crafty Jess and used her templates to try paper piecing again. There are no step by step instructions for constructing the blocks, paper piecing, etc. but she does reference a good tutorial to get you started, or in my case, refresh my memory.

For my first attempt at this block, even tho it isn't perfect, it isn't too shabby and I'm happy enough with it:

: 

I was going to use it for a present for a friend, but it bothers me that the bottom left text is going in a weird direction. It isn't quite upside down, it just isn't angled correctly in sync with the other ones. 

Plus the center doesn't line up 100% ... so we'll see. I'll probably end up keeping it and make her something else but all in all, I'm happy with my first try and glad to have raided the scrap bin!

Felt good to sew today even tho this block took me 3 hours to make and now I have a headache, am super tired, and a little cranky haha. Perfect time to go to bed! Hope everyone is having a good week!

MIA ~ but I'm here, I'm here!

Hi all! Wow it has been a long time since I've blogged! We have had a really crazy summer so far which hasn't left me much time for fun things like sewing. I finally started unpacking my sewing room today, after being in our new apartment for over 3 weeks, and am wishing I had time to sew too! All in due time I suppose...

Before my little packing/moving/unpacking hiatus, I was working on a new project that I want to share. This is a mockup using a smaller section I pieced ~ I wanted to brainstorm a little and see what could be created out of it.

The first picture is 4 sections rotated together ~ love it!

This second picture is 4 of the above, so 16 of the original sections, pieced together. A little dizzying, but I really like the effect the waves of color make over a bigger space. 

I would love to make one of these into a larger quilt but just one section used 36 drunkard's path blocks - So 144 would be needed for the first option, and that would only end up being about 30 x 30 when finished. Insane ~ I know! 576 drunkard's path blocks would be needed to make the bottom version, and that would only be 60 x 60 ... not quite worth all that cutting and curved sewing for a throw that isn't even long enough for my giraffe legs!

If I had the larger Go! cutter and could cut the larger drunkard's path blocks, I might consider it... but for now, I'll enjoy the images and brainstorm for the future. Maybe I'll get snowed in for a month and those 576 blocks won't seem so crazy then hahaha.

Once I get sewing and blogging again, expect to hear from me a lot! I have a lot of projects underway as well as the "Mayhem in Paradise" quilt retreat coming up in September! Lots of good things on the horizon, just need to get organized and get going again first!

Happy sewing everyone!

Summer Sprouts ~ A pillow experiment

Wooden Spoon made this AMAZING pillow for the latest round of Pillow Talk Swap:

I'm doing a swap with some friends and I thought something like this would be perfect for one of them... so here is my attempt:

I always tend to like the originals better when I recreate something that another sewer has made, but I still like mine and look forward to hopefully finishing it up this weekend. Not sure yet how I will finish it up ~ border, binding, quilting, etc. but I'll figure that out once I trim up the leaf blocks and attach them all together tomorrow. 

We'll see if my friend decides she likes it for our Swappers Anonymous swap. If not, I'm super happy to let this cheerful pillow live on my couch! 

Feeling pretty lousy this weekend but at least I got to spend some quality time piecing on Yeti ~ can't complain too much about that! Looking forward to trying her out on some quilting with I get that far on this pillow. 

Good luck come in threes!

Have you ever heard the saying that good things come in threes? Well I've heard it, and never paid much attention to it, but it sure did smack me in the face this past month.

I try to keep long personal narratives out of this blog and keep it more about craftiness, but right now it is time to share. To summarize all the back story, suffice it to say that after months and months of major stress and worry, especially right up until the last possible moment... some really awesome things happened for our family.

The biggest thing was that my husband got a new job! An AMAZING new job to be frank. We couldn't be more shocked, overjoyed, and filled with gratitude!

Next, we were able to find a new place to live when our current apartment lease expires. We have a huge fuzzy monster of a dog, which makes it really hard to find a decent apartment or any type of rental really. Again, shocked that it worked out at the very last possible minute and sooooo happy that it did!

Apparently this time tho, big shocking awesome news decided to travel in threes because all of a sudden, this beauty now lives in my craft room:

Who is that, you may ask? Her name is "The Yeti" ~ because she is white and I still can't believe she exists, in MY Sewing room!

More formally, she is called the Janome New Home 7700 ~ a rebrand and recolor of the Horizon 7700. Yes... you got it... my dream machine I was drooling over last year! She may not be red and named Roxanne (see last year's Horizon post), but the Yeti is everything I could have ever hoped for and wanted in a machine! :)

How did she end up in my sewing room, you may also be asking yourself? I ask myself that almost daily; I am seriously shocked when I walk by my sewing room and see her sitting there, begging for me to come sew on her!

Well to answer that question, my awesome thoughtful father bought her for me :) The same weekend we found out about the job and the new apartment, he happened to be visiting and out of the blue he started talking about sewing machines, the Horizon, blah blah blah. I was a little slow on the pick up, and then mostly just in shock that he was really truly offering to get her for me!! I'm not very good at accepting large gifts, especially something of this magnitude.... but I was screaming and jumping for joy on the inside and still am!

Not only is it awesome to have this amazing machine as mine mine mine all mine!, but it is awesome too that it comes from my dad. He reads my crafty blogs, comments on things I make, and follows along with my hobby. That alone makes me smile and warms my heart ... but to have him remember the machine I was obsessing about and offer to get her for me, knowing how much it would mean to me.... yea, just awesome and more amazingly generous and nice than I can express gratitude for in a million years!

So there she is... The Yeti... hanging out in her new table, courtesy of my husband... pinch me, I'm still pretty sure I am dreaming.... especially because I have had NO time to sew on her! I know I know, skip work and play right? Haha I wish. I started classes the day after all this awesomeness happened, so I've been run ragged trying to manage life, work, and homework these past couple of weeks.... hence this super delayed post. I assure you tho, you will get more pictures once I clean up my sewing room, constant reviews of how she handles my upcoming projects, how my "learn your machine" classes go, etc.

I am so grateful for a kind and loving Heavenly Father who brought about the huge blessings for our family of a new job and a new place to live, and so very grateful for my loving Dad who brought about the huge blessing of enabling me to own this amazing sewing machine that I couldn't have afforded for years still!
Big ol' hug to my Dad... should he happen to be reading this... you are awesome for so many reasons and the Yeti is just one daily reminder of that and the fact that you love me and care about my silly hobbies :).

PTS received and I'm in love!

I can't even begin to express how excited I was to see that Kelly from Scrap Studio sent me a package and THIS is what was inside ~ PTS10 ~ I got the best one!!!!!!

Front - Joel Dewberry + Farmer's Wife blocks = awesome!

Back with the cutest fox EVER and a great little fabric bundle

Happy new pillow on my couch :)

I was super overjoyed to unwrap these goodies yesterday and I will cherish this pillow cover forever... or until I snuggle it to death lol. I shouldn't play favorites, but this is definitely fighting for first spot from all my swaps ... loveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee :)

The drunkard continues on! :)

A mini drunkard's path pillow with leftovers from my PTS10 pillow ~ absolutely keeping this one! 

I've decided I really like circle quilting too!

Finished package ready to go!

I finished up a pouch and a quilt card for my partner this week so the lovely little package is all ready to go out in the mail next week.

Feels good to be done ahead of schedule and I'm sooooooooooooo excited to see what I'll receive from this swap in the new few weeks! June 3rd is the official mailing deadline so I'll have to patient a little longer... *sigh*

Now I have 1 month to work on my "Swappers Anonymous" items for Diane and Marika, woo hoo! This is going to be a fun "friend swap" with these wonderfully talented ladies! It is funny that in honor of the fact that we all sign up for WAY too many swaps, we decided to do our own little swap... counter productive but still awesome, hehe.

Bee Blocks ~ I'm on a roll!

I was so productive a couple weekends ago... just not productive enough to finish this blog post haha.

My Bee group is making Flags for Boston this month ~ here are the 2 I sent over for the exhibit this coming Memorial Day:

To read more about this exhibit in Boston, go here.

I'm also helping with another special project and made these fun blocks for it:

This was a fun non-stressful bee block month. It is nice being done early ~ I already have some ideas for my June blocks and then I will be done done DONE with Bees! While I've loved all that I've participated in, I am definitely ready for a break from Bees and hopefully getting a few of my own quilts done the rest of this year!

Stay tuned for June x & + blocks! :)