UFO's finished

This past weekend was very productive. I sewed black twill tape to the tops of my Happy Birthday Banner and finished it off. It only took a year to finish! But just in time for my son's halloween birthday next month.


Another UFO that I finished was these two baby blankets. Really so easy to do! I don't really know why it took me so long to finish.



Next, I finished the hems on two skirts: one for my sister and one for me. Again, these skirts were 95% finished and sat in my pile for a year!



These were quilt squares left over from a quilt I finished probably 6 years ago. I finally put them together and bordered them. I think it still needs a smaller outer border...





These embroidered cotton squares lived in the pile for many years until now. I bordered them and then put them together to make a table runner. Now only to quilt and bind!

I wish I could say I made a serious dent in the UFO pile but that wouldn't be true. But I'm really happy that I managed to finish what I did!

Fat Quarterly Quilt Along

I finished the quilt top for the Fat Quarterly Quilt Along. Instead of having the blocks line up with the small blocks side by side, I rotated them so piecing for me was easier. I'm toting my 8 month old and 23 month old to the sewing show this friday here in Calgary, so hopefully we will find some backing fabric or add a border to it. Still not sure. I think I'd like to make it a tad bigger so I might add some borders.



P.S. This quilt top used only ONE Jelly Roll to make. My sister bought me this one from Walmart one easter and I still had lots more fabric left over, I could easily make a couple matching pillow tops. I'm not sure if they still have this particular batik roll, I think it was about 19.99, there are varying weights in the fabrics but it didn't make a difference when I was doing the patchwork. All in all, fun to work with!

Last night I decided Marisol needed a new cover for the baby bjorn. I bookmarked Jenny Garland's Carrier Cover Tutorial, which is reversible. She has other cute tutorials on her blog and pictures of the finished items on her Flickr group. I used a super cute japanese reindeer print I ordered and had shipped from Japan. The online store was closing so I'm not sure if it still exsists so I won't post the link. I bought this knowing I wanted to use it for her so this project was perfect! I did the same print on both sides since I don't have any coordinating prints of the same weight right now. Also, we need this quickly since she's going to be hanging out in it at the sewing show Friday! yay!

Scrappy fun

Here are pictures of the finished pincushion I made for my secret partner on flickr's Scrappy Pincushion Swap 2! I had a feeling I would incorporate embroidery into this project since it's a simple way to add color and whimsy without it getting too complicated for me.



I decided to do some paperpiecing for this and I saw a post of a potholder that someone did on quiltblogs so I decided to do a scaled down version. I paired a Michael Miller green gingham with Tula Pink's Neptune and I think it blended well! I'm so happy with the results. I hope my partner likes it. It should be arriving soon as I shipped it earlier this week :)

After finishing that, I decided to get the binding finished on these two quilts since that's all that is left to do. I chose a small dotted chocolate brown fabric that went nicely with both tops. I am so in love with Saffron Craig's fabric... this is fabric from a bundle that I won from Fat Quarterly in May. I paired the pink version with an Amy Butter print to help highlight the pink and bit and I paired the blue version with a Michael Miller print which added some texture. My sister has already told me these belong to her... does she have kids yet? Nope! Hopefully this will help that along :) The rest of my Saffron Craig fabric will be rationed in several more special projects in the future!



I also decided to sew the binding on my Dick and Jane quilt which was in my UFO pile for four months. I think it turned out super cute!




My Fat Quarterly Quilt Along Progress is shown below. I finished piecing the blocks together. I wasn't too sure about the color next to color, I was thinking about adding white strips in between but after taking this picture I'm falling in love with it more and more!



This is where I am still at today, still squaring my blocks for the next step... I have Sunday to finish so I'm still working with the group timeline.


Quickly I decided to cross something of my sister Kauri's wish list. This year the high school students at her school have to wear their id's at all times so everyone is wearing lanyards. She was hoping for something a little cuter than what was given so I used some canvas and Tula Pink Neptune to make her wish come true. I hope she likes them! Literally it took 20 minutes to make both.


I had to take a break from sewing and do a little scrapbooking yesterday. I gave my father in law a scrapbook for his birthday a couple years ago and every chance I get I add pages from family trips and gatherings. Here is a little sampling of the pages I finished.



My little son enjoying his scrapbook!

Reusable Tote Bags finished!

Here are the finished tote bags I have been sewing and embroidering today...



I also made some for my sister in a blue print she picked out and monogrammed them for her. I think they turned out really nice!



Now I have to go sit and watch Real World while I cut my jelly roll for the Fat Quarterly Quilt Along! yay!

Grocery Tote Bags in Progress

This is what I'm doing today. Sewing the sides of these new grocery bag totes, attaching handles and hopefully later in the evening, monogramming. The bottom blue are for my sister Starr and the others I made for myself out of home dec fabric in my sewing room. I can't wait to use them!

Super Secret Project Revealed!

Here is the design I've been working on for a couple months now. The design embroidered on the onesie is a squash blossom necklace design that Navajo women wear on special occasions. My mother gave me a squash blossom of hers and now my little Marisol who is 7 months has her own too! I guess it's similar to a string of pearls... I drew the design myself and then created an embroidery design for a onesie. The gathered skirt is similar to the modern traditional skirts worn everyday by my grandmother Sue and many other "Masani's." I hope to sell the design on etsy soon, but I'd like to develop more "necklace" designs for bibs and onesies and t-shirts first. Hope you like it!

Lots of new projects!

I'm so excited! Today is the first day of the Fat Quarterly Quilt Along. I read Quilter Blogs often so I'm amazed at how many sew alongs there are and finally decided I should join in on one. Instead of picking my fabrics from fat quarters, I've decided to keep it simple and use a jelly roll my sister gave me for Easter last year.



A couple of nights ago I decided to start learning to crochet. There are so many pictures of cute baby blankets with fancy edging and my aunt carole claims it's so easy... so I looked up a couple videos on you tube and also had some step by step photo help from Mormon Chic. Here are my results so far:



I do a lot of small embroidery for my mom when she needs it. She makes pillowcases in really pretty prints and sells them at small craft fairs in and around the Page, AZ area.





I'll try to get her to stop a second and take a picture of the finished goods once she gets them done. Usually she's too busy (sewing up to the last minute) to stop and share them with me. :)

I was working on some pinwheels with a super cute charm set I bought from Burgandy Buttons a while back. It turned out a lot cuter than I would have thought, not being familiar with the print family and just buying from the description of "animal prints." I really love them though. Bold is right up my alley!





OOOH I love these prints. I love to look at fabric in general, especially if it's from my own stash. I want to try and use the bottom two prints soon, I'm thinking sort of a window block simple fast and easy quilt. We'll see.

Earlier this week I was also busy quilting the small quilt tops I had made last month. I sewed on the binding and now I just need to spend some time hand sewing the binding to the top. I absolutely love the prints I used.





I still am searching for something to bind the Dick and Jane quilt. I am looking for a coordinating blue but haven't found it yet. So the search continues!