Please vote today!

I found out I made it into the finalists for Sew Mama Sew's Great Pillow Contest. I entered my pillow titled "By Order of the Management." Please head on over to their blog here and vote for my pillow, please :) Thanks so much!!!

By Order of the Management...

I finally finished just in time for Sew Mama Sew's Great Pillow Contest! I have wanted to make my little son Antonio a pillow for his bed forever now. He just recently learned how to jump so I thought using the 5 Funky Monkeys fabric was totally appropriate!


I digitized the machine embroidery for the center panel then hand embroidered "-The Management" afterward. It's sort of a silly "notice" from the Management a.k.a. his mom and dad :) I used a simple framing pattern for the outer squares and afterward straight line quilted around the panels. I wanted the stitching to be subtle and not the focus of the piece.



I used a blue banana print for the back and when I showed it to Antonio he could hardly contain his delight. He just learned how to say banana and was so happy it was on the pillow.



Here is a close up of the back label I sewed on. I really enjoyed making this free-handed pillow. I think the management is going to have to make a notice for his sister's crib soon :)

Owl Card

I decided to take a break from sewing and do some scrapbooking... Then I decided to take a break from scrapbooking to make a card for a local store's contest. The idea was to make a card and use this image as inspiration:

I cute out some paper shapes and used my sewing machine to free motion stitch the edges down. I really like the owl, it was my first time doing anything with an owl theme!

Love Nest Quilt Contest Entry

I made this quilt especially for my Nephew Cristian this past December. The pattern and inspiration is from the book Last Minute Patchwork and Gifts. A truly beautiful book with great photos and ideas. When I first saw this I knew it would be perfect for my nephew, not too "quilty" but definitely masculine. It's difficult to find that balance for a seventeen year-old :)



The actual cutting and piecing of the top of the quilt was done in one full day. I also have two young children (two and one) and this was easy enough to do with them hanging on my coat tails. The trickiest part of this whole quilt is to keep the lines of quilt straight. I found marking the top with a chalk pen save a lot of time and helped guide my walking foot. Marking the lines for quilting took a day.



I used an espresso color quilting thread from Connecting Threads and was very happy with the results. Not one issue with the thread at all. Quilting was a two day process with lots of breaks. As you can imagine, 135 or so lines to quilt is a bit much to do in one day. I love the fabric I chose for the back, I think it compliments the brown perfectly!

The fabric requirements listed in the book were very accurate and I even only used scraps from my scrap bin to make the patchy look on top. I would recommend this quilt to anyone, it was a delight to make.

Please visit Gen X Quilters' website for more details on the Love Nest Quilt Contest.

Custom Kindle Holder Finished!

My sister was about to purchase a Kindle holder as a gift on etsy for my sister but wanted a different print and also with a pocket. Of course I offered to make her one myself and ended up with a custom order :)



The inside of the Kindle sleeve is lined with flexifirm to help protect the Kindle screen when this pouch is inside her purse.



From the back you can see the flexifirm helps the sleeve hold its shape nicely.



I finished the closure off with a vintage button. The pocket is lined with warm and natural batting, so it will have some give when the cord is stored inside.