Eye Candy for the Wall

I took some of this 

Garden Party by Anna Marie Horner for Free Spirit

 and an 18" x 18" canvas and with a little help from a staple gun, turned it into this...

Now all I need is some paint, thread, and beads.

This project is going to a while for me to do, but I'll try to keep you posted on the progress.

Flouncy Bag for my Sister

If you need any last minute gift ideas may I suggest One Yard Wonders...this book is the BEST!!

I made the Flouncy Bag for my sister, with not some, but a LOT of changes. Why?? Well, I've made this bag once, which I didn't know that there was some corrections. 

My Changes: (1) The D-Rings I bought were on the small side, since the directions don't tell you size to get, so I adjusted the width of the strap to fit the D-Ring better. (2) I didn't like the opening size of the bag, the book says the bands need to be 10" long, but the corrections say 11" and I made it 12". (3) Since I made the bands longer, I needed to adjust the Lining size as well. (4) I also had to adjust the bottom of the lining. (5) I used a coordinating fabric for the lining.

And, finally.....I added an inside pocket! Not just any pocket, but a zipper pocket, which I had to figure out on my own, since I do not have any books that explain how to do one. There was a LOT of thread ripping going on, at least 4 attempts that I can remember...I started to lose track...but after 4 hours I finally got it!

Considering this is the first zipper I've ever attempted, I think I did a great job!

Well, I hope my sister likes it....she's already seen the fabric, but she didn't know what I was going to make with it.

Mug Rugs Continued...

After the first 2 mug rugs that I made for my step mom, I got to thinking that 2 is not enough, so I thought 4, since there are a lot of items that come in a 4-pack...but for some reason that didn't work for me either, which led to 7, one for each day of the week.

Without further a due, here they are...

Set of 7 Mug Rugs

 Mug Rug#1

Mug Rug #2

Mug Rug #3

Mug Rug #4

Mug Rug #5

Mug Rug #6

Mug Rug #7

All of the single shot photos have an insert of what the back looks like.

And earlier today, I got to see my step mom open them and SHE LOVES THEM!!!

Mug Rugs....

I've been sitting around all week trying to figure out what to get my stepmom for Christmas....she's practical kinda gal, so nothing fancy or useless for her. 

Then I thought to myself, why don't I make her something, but what?? 

Off to browse the many books of ideas and as I was looking in one book I saw coasters, which told me to make her a mug rug...they're popular right now and she's an every morning coffee drinker!! 

Mug Rug #1

Made with scraps left over from this quilt and kona solids.

Mug Rug #2

Made from the same as above.

Sorry for not having photos of the backs, but my camera ran out of battery life and I wanted to get this posted before the end of the day. I promise to get more photo's...maybe with my stepmom holding them up. And first thing in the morning I'll be finishing the binding.

Trim the Tree....Ornaments Rec'd

Here are the 3 ornaments that I received from the Trim the Tree Handmade Ornament Swap.....

This little birdie came from spottedstonestudio.....and she sent that great looking handmade glass snowflake!

Winter Mitten from piecefulchaos!

Made from leftover quilt batting, which she sprayed with something that had glitter in it to make it a little stiffer.

Bella the Christmas Dotee from magicjessnrach!

She came to me all the way from Australia!!!


I love all the ornaments that I received from my swap partners....they all look great on our Christmas tree, which is already a hodge podge of handmade/craft ornaments!

Trim the Tree Handmade Ornament Swap...

...i joined this group on flickr.com after doing 2 modern siggy swaps and 2 potholder swaps...these are starting to get addictive!

We make 3 ornaments for 3 different people and we'll receive 3 ornaments from 3 different people....so here is what I made...

I hope the partners i received like them!

Another Baby Dino

The gal that my mom works with who took the 3 cats, also wanted me to make something for a baby boy and this is what i decided on.

I really love the blue and orange polka dots. I now wish that I would of bought more of it.
Again, I use the Dilbert Dino pattern from Melly & Me.

Freya the Fairy

Well I had to put my Wonderland project away for right now....I need to get started on some Christmas presents and I only have about 6 six weeks to get it all done.

My sister invited me to a birthday party for her boyfriend's daughter....or another way to look at it is, I'm invited to a birthday party for a classmate's daughter...I like the first version better.

So yesterday I got out my stash of patterns and found Freya the Fairy by Melly & Me...

...I'm hoping she likes it!

I think she's a little punky cute....I made some adjustments along the way, like the wings.

Now if only I can figure out how to get the head more round-like...I'm not liking all the bumps along the seam.

Wednesday WIP.....

Remember when I showed you the rainbow fabrics....well here's what I've been up to...making progress on my Wonderland quilt top.

So what ya think...I'm liking it so far, but this is going to take me a while to complete.

AND THIS IS WHY...

Yup people, that's a quarter!  I hope this turns out as great as it looks in the head!

Halloween 2010

The had a blast Trick or Treating this year...they even got cupcakes from the neighbors! Our neighbors are awesome...they're old enough be my parents....and when LJ was born (winter time) it seemed we got dumped on with snow about once a week and he and the other neighbor took turns snow blowing our driveway for us! Like I said they are AWESOME!

Anyways, back to Halloween...we went to Andy's parents on Saturday, they only did one small housing addition plus the one his parents live in...Andy's parents direct neighbors were excited to see the kids dressed up...they've enjoyed watching them grow up.

And then on Halloween Day the boys went Trick or Treating in our neighborhood, but we didn't go through the whole addition, since they got tired about 45 minutes into it.

They got enough candy to last them at least until next year, which if it turns out anything like last year I'll be throwing away about of it!

Costume Club WIP

Slowly, I've been working on this new quilt for my youngest son...

I'm using 12 FQ & 1 panel of Costume Club by Sheri Berry that I purchased from the Fat Quarter Shop. I'm also using 4 - 1/2yards of Kona Solids.

I'm still here...

For those you who have not heard, I've been sick.

It started with an UTI and by the time I got to the doctors office it turned in a bladder infection. The doc gave me some antibiotics and some pain pills, since I was having pain in my lower right back. Within a few days the pain pills were not working and pain got so bad I went to the ER.

Once in the ER, they started drawing blood right away and did a CT scan...turns out I now have a kidney infection and kidney stones...after some more blood tests, they found that the infection is now in the blood stream as well and the ER doctor wants to keep me over night observation.

That over night observation turned into 3 days in the hospital...I spent my 27th birthday in the hospital, not fun....he blood infection was a lot worse than originally thought....and I felt like crap...it took 2 days on morphine for the back pain to go away and for the fever to go away.

After a follow up appointment with my doctor, I was put on another antibiotic and another appointment with a urologist. The urologist went right the point...I have kidney stone and not just a few, but about 7 or 8 and one of them 5.7mm in diameter and anything over 5mm is considered impassible. Are you kidding me?!?! This now means I have 2 options: surgery or stock radiation to break up the stone. 

I've decided to hold off on both options for right now. The urologist wants me to collect my urine for 24 hours and then a blood test. The doc also put my on yet another antibiotic for the next 6 months and a follow appointment in 6 weeks.

WHAT A MESS!!!  Since I'm on antibiotics, this weakens the effectiveness of the birth control pills I'm taking, so I've stopped them all together for right now. Now we need to be careful, we were not planning on anymore kids..two is our limit!

To top if off this whole mess has made me really tired and I have not been able to work on any sewing projects. I'm hoping to work up my strength and slowly get back into my sewing routine, so maybe within the next week I'll have something new to you all!

Flouncy Bag...

...from One Yard Wonders!

I cannot believe how well this turned out.

I have to admit that I do NOT think this pattern is for beginners....the directions were not that clear, so on some parts I was wingin' it. Also it may of helped if I knew that there were corrections to the cutting measurements before hand, because I did not catch this until after cutting, the opening is kind of small....and since I used a dark lining it's hard to see down into the bag.

But here is what it looks like. The brown/gold ribbon has loops in it to hold items.

For those of you wondering..I used Michael Millers Fairy Frost. I have no clue what color, since it came in a scrap bundle from Fabric.com. For the outside I used a fabric purchased from Jo-Ann's, so I'm not sure what it is called or who makes it. But I also used this fabric for the backing of my Exotic Quilt.

The directions said nothing about using a stabilizer for the bottom, but I added some anyways...now the bottom is more sturdy!

My New Wrap

Went to Jo-Ann's and picked up this...

Got home and looked at it right away and found this...

I read the directions on how to make it and realized I have all the materials for it...

And this is what mine looks like...

Not the greatest picture, but you get the idea. I really did not like the butterfly looking flowers, so I came up with something a little more simple and modern.

I can't wait to start cuddling up with this...since it's made with interlock knit, it's so soft!

Nature-ology Backing

I really like the solid backing on quilts with a little of fabric from the front mixed in. But, for my Nature-ology quilt top I felt that there wasn't a lot of color on the front in order to qualify for a solid backing. So when I found some more fabric that I used on the front I decided to buy enough for the backing....I just threw a little bit of solid in.

So what do you think..

My favorite part of this quilt are the birds in it...

So hopefully I'll have some time to quilt this today, which means I'll be able to use my walking foot for the first time, that I've have for about 2 or 3 months now.