Iron, Cut, Sew and Repeat

This blanket was loads of fun to make. It is now home with a special little girl who live in Germany. Bright colors were a must and lots of them so I browsed around Pinterest to see what styles drew my eye and decided on a spiderweb type of quilt. I drew up a sketch, made my own pattern, and got to work.

Testing out different placements.

Oops...notice that one of these is not like the others? I fixed it before sewing it all together.

Charcoal is obsessed with me when I am trying to get things done. He loves to be nearby, or right in the middle of things, when I am working on a project.

Matching up color wheels with the outer borders.

Ready to sew together.

The background colors.

After lots of ironing, cutting, and sewing it was ready to sandwich.

Then this little trouble maker decided to come and play.

Timber....such a good old gal. Ready to quilt.

Charcoal laid on top of the quilt the whole time I worked on the binding.

I love soft backing and how the colors matched nicely.

My shoulder was on fire from all the small movements used to quilt the entire thing in one quick setting.

And finally, the finished quilt. Sorry for my crappy crop job. I finished the quilt the night before I drove out of town to deliver it, naughty me, so I didn't get any good pictures of it laid out.

This is very first time I free motion quilted an entire quilt. I dabbled with simple curvy lines between straight ones on the last quilt I made. There were definitely some errors (starting at the inside of the circle rather than the outside pushed material out  a little, yikes!) and I learned as I went along. I love my little Janome sewing machine. An oldie, with none of the special stitches the new electronic sewing machines can do, but a goodie that has been super dependable,  but it was tight squeezing this little blanket in the small arm space. Several free motion quilting books are highly recommend on the quilting sites across the inter-web, so I will have to check some of those out before my next adventure in quilting.

It Has Been A Long Winter

Winter some years seems to drag out longer than others, but this year it has seemed extra long and dreary. Everyone has their highs and lows, good news and bad, and you learn to take what life gives you and make the best of it. Right before Christmas my family received some especially sad news that was confirmed just a few days later.. My nephew hadn't been hitting the typical milestones that infants and toddlers do. His parents, Justin and Esther, worked with multiple specialists trying to find a cause so they could help him in anyway possible. The answer they did get was shocking and tragic. Here is what Esther posted soon after getting the diagnosis. 

"We got the DNA results. Tanner tested positive for Spinal Muscular Atrophy. I am sad. I am scared. I am not sure how someone is supposed to cope with the news that your child will not be getting better, but instead progressively worse. That there is no treatment, no cure. That every illness is potentially life threatening. So I cling to the fact that there are people out there actively working on a cure and hope and pray that one will become available in time to benefit my sweet little mamma's boy. That I will finally get to wake up from this nightmare."  

I can't even imagine the pain and heartache that comes along with finding your child has a fatal disease, but watching my sister-in-law cope with this as gracefully as possible has been incredibly touching.  

Each Christmas our family draws names and this year Tim and I picked Justin's family. One of their other sons had told me at Thanksgiving that he knew his parents wouldn't get him a dog, so could Tim and I please get him one. So we did the best we could under the circumstances (stuffed dogs instead of live) and brought them a whole circus. 

Charcoal, as usual, had to be involved in any project I work on.

Of course this lion needed to be dressed up so I got to work on a bow tie and a crown.

A bow tie for the monkey.

And each circus dog got his own collar.

The circus was a hit with all three boys, but Tanner especially loved the dogs and was trying to hug all three at once. His smiles and bubbling laughter were priceless.

Bird is the Word

This Halloween was time for something new. After browsing Pinterest I came across these masks made of crepe paper.  Real feathers seemed like much more fun. So I headed to a few craft stores and picked up the goods.

Started with these. I couldn't find any of the fancy long nosed masks at any local stores so I improvised and used two layers of painted card stock for the beak. Then organized the feathers into groups and heated up the glue gun.

Put on layers of feathers.

Picked out some beads to compliment the colors in the feathers and cover the glued feathers around the eyes....

And ended up with this. Timber and Tim were nice enough to model if for me. Gigi was not interested. Let's hope she will wear her costume I am sewing for her!

Pictures of the pups' costumes coming soon.

Projects That Have Failed

Over the last several months I've constantly had a list of projects to do, and Pintrest has only added to that list. Here are two of the projects that failed....

Remember this cute wreath?

And an up close view.

Well, it had to lay flat for several days for the roots to take. Lola decided it was one of her favorite places to sleep.

Silly cross eyed kitty!

I misted it every day, but she would still lay on it, even if it was moved to a different spot.

Finally most of the plants were crushed and it got tossed.

 All of the animals (except Timber) helped to destroy the next project.

I was so excited to make this "Hen and Chicks" when I found a decorative wire hen at a local store.

The plant filled in nicely on the top.

But I noticed that the "chicks" had started disappearing. Then one day I caught Gretchen picking them off. Another day it was Lola or Charcoal trying to remove them.

Then the real hens decided they loved to eat the plant. It has made a comeback a few times only to be eaten again. This photo was taken tonight. Poor little plant.

In the Last Two Weeks....

It has been a busy, but fun two weeks.

Started from scratch with this.

Just about finished...

Turned right side out....

And all done!

This is an Amy Butler pattern that is great for make-up bags.

A peek inside.

Time for cooking salsa.

The dogs during the salsa prep.

Pretty little Lola in the garden by the peppers.

Yum.

And more peppers.

Salsa and a few jars of tomato juice to make soup.

The ladies checking out the goods.

Delicious!

And one more bag made from scratch.

The inside.

All put together.

The "outside" of the reversible bag.

Charcoal checking out the goods. Oh, and see the little yellow pot in the background, it has cuttings from my succulent garden for another project.

Put in my first magnetic pocket. They are super easy, but new to me!

The "inside" of the reversible bag.

Found these beauties on sale at Cactus and Tropical.

Thought they would look lovely in my living room. The need to be soaked in water so....

I bought this plastic container. Really, I bought two because I wanted to line one with hemp and didn't know if the glue gun would burn through and make one leak. It did. So I just tossed the plain plastic inside this one and no more leaking.

I love the way it turned out.

Found these on sale.

And this little gem.

Put it together to make a lovely little indoor garden.

 Each project helps me a little with the next one. What I liked, what I would change, and what completely failed (a few of those to come in my next post!)