To Do List- More Marked Off the List!

Three more  projects that I can mark off my To Do List! It’s exciting me to me, but might not be all that exciting to you…

The pirate party thank you’s have been written, finally…. And the party pieces are getting posted on Etsy! There’s still more to go, but it’s getting there. A lot of editing of pictures! ergh… Do any of you have etsy shops??

And.. I finally got caught up on my 365 photo project!!! Is anyone else doing this? I decided to do it this year and the subject is my son. So every day, I take a picture of my son. Some days it’s with the big fancy camera, but most days it’s a cell phone picture!

And then each week I set up this image of the week’s photos and wrote a little note about them. It will be fun to put them all in a book one day!

I’ve done this every week all year! A lot of work.. Debating on doing it again this coming year. I’m thinking no.. Except that now my son wants his picture taken every day now…

Alright, next post, Christmas!!

Repurposed Boots!

OK, so I know that Thanksgiving is over and blogs all over the web have moved into Christmas gifts and Christmas gift guide lists and Christmas decorating ideas and Christmas craft ideas and… Not me…. I will, don’t get me wrong! I will! We’re cleaning the house this week so we can get the decorations down this weekend, we’ve already started reading my son’s Christmas obsession, The Grinch, and I’ve started our Christmas cards. But this week, I’m not quite ready for Christmas!

We know Christmas is coming soon, because the rain has started again here in Seattle! Which means rain boots are an everyday accessory around here. And since they are everyday, my son’s favorite pair eventually had some blow outs. It was a sad day when these boots had to be put away. We couldn’t give them to someone else and I hate to throw things away… So we now have rain boots planters!

We got the boots, my drill, potting soil and rocks. And plants of course! My son was adamant that at least one was going to be an inside planter. It wasn’t in my plan, but eventually I decided it wasn’t a fight I felt like fighting, so one of the boots came inside, the other outside. (Hopefully this spring, the other will go outside as well…)

First step we drilled a couple of small holes in the bottom so the boot will drain.

Then we filled up the toe with the rocks. Look at that face. Can you hear our conversation? He’s saying, ‘It’s Heavy, It’s Heavy’. I’m saying, ‘Hold on, just one more picture!’

Next was the potting soil and the plant! If you notice in the pictures, we had a little plant switch-a-roo. The outside plant I got, was a bit bigger than anticipated, so I found a different one. I know, December probably isn’t the best time to transplant plants, but we’re giving it a try on this one.

I can’t belive that this project wasn’t on my To Do List. The boots have been sitting out on the patio, just waiting. And my son keeps asking about, ‘when are we planting my boots??’ it’s finally done and we think it’s pretty cute! A great way to keep things ‘Green’ this holiday season!

 

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To Do List- 2nd Swap Project Done!

It’s true. I’m admitting it to you. I’m addicted to Swaps…. This was the second round of Modern She Made Swap and the little trick was to incorporate triangles into the piece.

And yes, it’s another sewing machine cover! I keep getting paired with others that want sewing machine covers. I’m so glad that I made the tutorial for the first swap that I did. It’s come in handy, for sure!

This one fits a little funny on my machine, but should look better on the machine it’s going too! I’m not sure how I ended up so on the rainbow theme this round. I know I saw my partner commenting on all the bright colors, so that’s one thing that led me there… I hope she likes it!

I wish I had taken a picture of the quilt before I made it into the cover. I actually really liked it! I mean I still like it, but it held its own as a mini quilt as well… One this one, you can decided if the fronts the back of if the back is the front or if you want the inside to be the outside. As I’m writing this I just realized I took the picture of the ‘lining’ with the buntings on backwards… So they are upside down in this picture. Oops!

And then there are the extras! We’re only supposed to make one extra, but I got a little carried away… My partner wanted a pin cushion, so I decided to make one of those. Then I kept seeing embroidery hoop art similar to this one. And since I kept seeing it, I took it as a sign to make one!

I’m soooo in love with this pin cushion!!!! I stumbled upon Yellow Spool’s blog and this pin cushion tutorial and loved it! So I decided to try it. I wasn’t sure if it would work with the quilted piece and the batting, but it did. Like my quilted magnets, this little project is addictive. I keep thinking about who else I could make one for!!!

I mean look at it! It’s adorable! hehehe… It’s about a 3″ hoop. I am loving tiny things right now!

And the embroidery hoop art ‘clothesline’!

I randomly picked up this Keep Calm fabric by Timeless Treasures, but had no idea what to do with it. Then decided not to use it, because it didn’t coordinate as well as I wanted it to. Also, I keep seeing these hoops around and they are so cute. I thought why not. The buntings coordinate with the inside of the sewing machine cover and they are triangles…. Then I saw this one hoop on Maureen Cracknell’s blog and it all just came together in my head! Rainbow, buntings, triangles, and a way to incorporate the Keep Calm fabric!

And it’s the tiny things again!! I love love love these tiny clothespins!!

ok, so the first fun part of swaps is seeing what everyone else is making and making fun things that you might not have before. The second part is that you get things for yourself that you LOVE, but would have never taken the time to make for yourself!

Like this bag! I LOVE this adorable purse I received from my partner, Karen from Laughter in Quilts. I’ve done a little stalking since I got my bag and Karen is an amazing quilting artist! I’m so in love with the cathedral Windows that people are doing. Yet spooked to try it myself! I love the fabrics and design and everything about it. She told me the little triangle pouch could be for my son, but, um, no. It’s for me!

Another project marked off the To Do List!

Do you swap??? I just joined a couple more on Flickr! Which ones do you love?

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Happy Thanksgiving!

If you’re here in America, enjoy the holiday!

beautiful sketch by Wit and Whistle

And if you’re not in America, you can play along!

It’s so funny, I went a little overboard on the Thanksgiving themed books from the library this year and my son is so BORED with all the Thanksgiving books. But I keep reading them, because I am convinced that I am going to find one that talks about why we celebrate Thanksgiving and not just about the food we eat. I mean it is about giving thanks for our food, but there is a little bit more to the story! We found a few, but most of them just talk about eating…

And we will eat! While we think about everything we have to be thankful for.

And my son will be thankful that all these Thanksgiving books can go back to the library!

Sorry, I missed posting earlier this week! The family was sick this weekend, all of us, and this week I feel like I’ve been playing catch up. So I’m thankful that we’re feeling better! More next week!!

Ahoy Matey! It’s a Pirate’s Party for Me!

I can’t believe it! I can’t believe it’s been 4 years! But I can believe that my kiddo had an AWESOME pirate birthday party! He had great props (as usual) made by Daddy, a bunch of pretty details by Momma and most importantly… He was surrounded by loving family and friends on a beautiful sunny day for his Pirate party!

My son and I had a great time getting ready for the party. He helped me with everything! The invites, the favors, pretty much everything! For the invites we decided to hand deliver them in glass bottles!  The day I was going to deliver the invites, Max had the opportunity to have a play date instead of driving around town. But he said, ‘No, I have to help give everyone their invitations!’ I did do all the burnt edges, no 4 year olds helped in the burning process!

The pirate ship was a huge hit! There was a kid in it at all times. We had a couple of cap-sizing moments, but we got it back up and going pretty quick! Daddy wasn’t originally going to add the Captain’s Quarters, but as he was building it he realized that he needed it. And it was perfect!

It was great watching all the kids run around with their party favor pirate gear! Some wore it all, other just wore pieces. We made, sashes, hats, eye patches and they all got a sword.

I really loved our portrait of my son’s Great Great Grandfather Pirate Pete. My mom had an idea of dressing up an old photo like a pirate. I wasn’t exactly sure what she meant, but I ran with what I thought she was talking about. And the portrait is really my son’s Great Great Grandfather, but his name wasn’t Pete and he wasn’t a pirate! We added all the 3d pirate gear!

I designed everything! My husband was out-of-town when I came up with the birthday party Jolly Roger icon. I was so excited about it, but didn’t have anyone to show it to! I was on pins and needles waiting for him to read his email and see my design. And when he did, HE LIKED IT too!! Yea!! So off I went turning it into invitations, tags, food and drink labels, goodie bags, pirate hats and pirate booty bags! I used a combo of stamping and freezer papers stencils for all the printing.

And who doesn’t love cake??? I am not the best with cake decorating! Last year, I didn’t even show a picture of the cake… But this year I was very excited about the cake turning out much better than last year. It’s still not super professional, but I’m getting better and better! Yea!

I know! It’s a lot of pictures, I know! But I hope you enjoyed it. Want to have one just like it? I’ve started posting it on etsy !

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Etsy and Instagram and Facebook, Oh, my!

Are you flashing back to The Wizard of Oz??? I am… Lions and Tigers and Bears, oh, my! Ok, maybe it’s just me…

So many updates today!

First, Etsy…

Do these cards look familiar to anyone? I designed them all last year for a free printable. Well, this year, I’ve updated them all and they are available in my Etsy shop! You don’t have to hassle around with the files. I’ll do it for you! You purchase and send me your pictures. I’ll set the whole thing up for you and send it back to ya! Easy!!!! So if you haven’t already ordered your Holiday cards, check out mine! Each card come with a PDF of corresponding address labels and envelope liner paper! What do you think??

Next, Instagram….

My Instagram account has been private for the last couple of years that I’ve been using it. Until today… I’ve opened it up to be public. I’m a little hesitant… But I want to get to know you. I’ve been writing to you for the last couple of years, but I feel like I haven’t gotten to know too many of the people who read my blog… And I’m coming to a blogging place that feels very alone. I didn’t start this blog to be alone! I started it to make friends out there that I would otherwise not know. So I thought I’d try this out and see. You can now follow me on instagram! I’ve started taking pictures of my crafty projects and fun things I see out there. Not just my son… There will still be pictures of him, just a warning! He’s cute though, right?!

You can click here, the image above or the same image on the right hand side over there!

(I’m kinda excited about my little instagram image I just made!)

And Lastly, Facebook…

If you follow any other blogs, you’ve probably already seen this…. But Facebook has made some changes and you don’t actually get updates for every page that you like… So, if you can do me a favor, I’ll let you know how to be sure to not miss a FB update!

Go to my FB page by clicking here. Then mouse over the blue LIKED button and you see the drop down menu in the image above. Make sure that you have checked ‘Show in News Feed’. This was you’ll never miss a post and if you comment, or like or anything else, probably, other friends will see it and so on and so on!

Big sigh….

That was a lot of information!

I’m so glad to have you and look forward to getting to know you even better with these little changes I’ve made and hope too see more of you on FB and Instagram!

To Do List- Swap Quilted Magnets with a Tutorial! Done!

Another project crossed off my To Do List! Mini Mini quilts! For your refrigerator or note board!

Unfortunately, these were not my idea! I wish I was the brains behind this project! I was inspired by this picture by A Cup and a Catch Up. Her’s are fantastic with the hand stitching on there…

My partner for the Modernista Homemade Swap had these in her mosaic, and I fell in love with them instantly!! I just had to make a batch. And now I’m actually making another batch for a Christmas present and then I want some too…

I couldn’t find a tutorial for these, so thought I’d show you how I made mine! You can probably figure it out, without my tutorial, but…

Step 1: Gather materials! You’ll need a cutting tool and mat, magnets, batting and SCRAPS! And tiny scraps at that, since we’re making teeny tiny quilts!

Step 2: Cut the batting and the back fabric into 2″ squares.

Step 3: Cut your scraps into even smaller pieces for the front of the magnet. Some of them I just cut on the fly and put them together. Others I made little patterns for. Here are some of the patterns I used.

Others I just cut and sewed and then trimed down to 2″ square. So these little patterns aren’t very detailed by any means!

Step 4: Sew together all your pieces so that you have all the fronts put together.

Step 5: Quilt all the fronts to the batting.

Step 6: Put together the quilted piece and the back piece, right sides together. Stitch them together. Remember to leave a hole to pull the mini mini quilt through and also make sure it’s big enough to put in your magnet.

Step 7: Clip the corners and iron over the back fabric to help the seams lie flat. Then turn it right side out by pulling it through the hole.

Step 8: Insert magnet.

Step 9: Topstitch!

Then repeat and repeat and repeat… You get the idea! Until, Wah-la!, you have all your magnet!

What a perfect Christmas present, huh??? I LOVE these things!!!

 

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Funky Fonts on Friday!

When I was making my Kitchen Mini Quilt, I knew I needed one of two things…

A bunch of letterpress letter stamps or a font that looks like letterpress letter stamps. The first option is more on the expensive side and time-consuming trying to find all the letters I need. I guess I could have shot over to my neighborhood letterpress shop and borrowed some… Didn’t think of that!

And then there’s the second option. A free font. That works much better for my wallet! Buuut it’s still pretty time-consuming!

So as I was looking around, I found a ton of fonts I love. (see I kept looking and looking for the perfect font, even after I had found the one I wanted to use for my project!)

I thought I’d share with you what I found. Some are on topic of the letterpress letter stamp. Others show you how I got sidetracked…. They are nothing like letterpress, but I like them anyway!

Click on the links below to download the fonts you love!

Lemondrop, Opera Lyrics- Smooth, Serial Publication, Transit Display, All Ages, Master Plan, Gunslinger, Headliner No 45, Janda Truly Madly Deeply, Alice in Wonderland, Peoni Patterns, Trace and Green Piloww.

 

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Modernista HomeMade Swap, Received!

And I love it! Look at all my goodies!

The first item I got totally shocked me! I so wasn’t expecting it! Honestly, I don’t exactly remember what I asked for in this swap, except for pot holders. I know I didn’t ask for anything holiday related and I don’t think I asked for a table runner. But during the swap Lee from May Chappell posted this picture of the table runner and I fell in love with it!

I ‘favorited’ it. But since I didn’t ask for holiday, I wrote it off as she wasn’t my partner. I also kinda regretted not asking for something holiday! Ha! Lucky Me! I got it anyway! Be sure to check out her tutorial!

Then it came in the mail!!! It’s awesome!

I love the quilting! And I love how the quilting shows on the back. Very cool!

The other part of my package was the pot holders I’d asked for. Our kitchen is bright green and I told her that I love bright colors.

Funny story… Our kitchen was bright green, then we remodeled and changed the green to a little darker color green, slightly toward the oliveish side, but not olive… It got dark feeling to me so we re-painted it… Ends up we repainted almost the exact same color that it originally was! Anyway….

So check out these colors! FANTASTIC!

ok, so what do you think? My old pot holder? Or the new ones??? hehehe… I think it’s time my old one moved on to the place in the skies that old pot holders retire to….

To Do List- Modernista Homemade Swap, done

Another two things off the To Do List!

This swap is pretty cool. This was Round 2. Round 1 was for the sewing room. Round 2 is for the kitchen! Curious what Round 3 will bring! The first thing on my partners ‘want’ list was a 10×10 mini quilt and her colors were red and yellow. One of the pictures in her mosaic was this one of these hand stamped tea towels by Nesta Home. This was my inspiration!

image via flickr by Nesta Home

From this image of tea towels came this sketch:

And from this sketch came this mini quilt:

I went through a lot of font hunting and finally found a font that reminded me of these stamps, Gunslinger. I had to edit the font a little. It had a little too much white, so I colored it in a bit. Then printed the words on a printable fabric.

As the secondary item, I made a group of 5 little magnets! I’ll tell ya more about these here!

I can’t wait to get my package any day now!!!

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