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My crafty friend, CAR, recently posted this blog.  Her shoes and the pin they came from inspired me to make some cute shoes of my own!

These are $5 Faded Glory canvas shoes.  $2 worth of dye and some scrap elastic resulted in these.  I love them.  They are comfy and just slip right on.

Perfect for sitting outside, enjoying the day...

Or for slipping on to check out how the garden grows.

I also made a small pair for my daughter, but she says they "itch" her foot.  I don't know what that means, but she won't wear them even though I went with yellow because that's her new favorite color!  One packet of dye did both pairs of shoes, and we also did a onesie that I had on hand.  I love them.  The hardest part was not sticking my finger while I sewed on the elastic.  I've read Target has them with the elastic already in, so I'm on the lookout.  I think a turquoise pair would be perfect for summer!

Kiwicrate Review

One of my favorite bloggers recently posted about Kiwicrate.  It's a company that send you a box of themed crafts for your child each month.  I was intrigued and thought I'd give it a try.  We recently dug into our first box.  It was about wind power.  The 2 projects for the month were a wind-powered cars and a wind sock.

For the car there were enough parts to make 2 cars and to decorate 4 different sails.  When we opened the box there was a pair of scissors and a nice little note.  There was a very good instruction booklet and ideas for exploring wind more.  Everything is packed very nicely and of good quality.  For the car there were wooden wheels, heavy foam for the body, thick paper for the sails, colored sticks for the mast, and tons of stickers for decorating.  There were even extra sheets for making your own stickers, which is what my daughter is doing here!  The decorating was definitely her favorite part.  The box also included play dough for keeping the wheels on and precut tape strips.

My son is still too little, but he had fun helping us.

Our finished cars

He wanted to be sure you saw the striped sail!  We used our wind to race them across the kitchen floor. 

The second project was a wind sock.  It was my daughter's favorite project of the two.  It came with nice oil pastels for decorating and lots of ribbon.  She didn't want more than one ribbon of each color, but there was about a yard of 4 different colors. 

The Kiwicrate came with an observation chart.  It has a guide for rating the wind and a place to draw what your wind sock looks like for 7 days.  We've been faithfully going outside to check, but we certainly can't leave her beautiful creation outside!

I wasn't sure if these boxes were going to be worth $20, but she loved it.  Besides enough supplies to do the craft, there is lots of stuff left over for other projects.  It all comes in a nice box addressed to your child.  The instructions are clear and come with great illustrations.  Everything was of good quality.  I think my daughter may be a little big for them (3-7 is the age range), but she still enjoyed it.  We've already gotten our second box about gardens and she's pumped.  If you think your child might like it, use this link, and you can get your first box for $10.  (I also get $10 off of mine!)  It's definitely worth checking out.

New sewing space!

So I finally took some pictures of the new "office."  This is my sewing room part.  It's about half sewing space and half everything else.  Besides what's in the pictures, there is another desk for the computer, my closet, and a shelf with the TV and Wii  on it.  This room was lavendar before I started this whole switch around!  I'm very happy with the new light grey color; it makes the room brighter.  I don't have curtains yet, but I'm on the lookout for some fabric I like.


The big cabinet is new.  It replaced my wire cubes and a set of plastic drawers.  All of my fabric is in it, and the projects I'm working on are in the drawer at the bottom.  We also got 2 new bookcases to replace the ones that we've had since we got married.  (In fact, we had a blow-up fight when putting on of them together the night before we got married, but that's a story for another time!) 

My new desk.  I got this desk for $15 from a yardsale FB group.  It sat in our carport just long enough to push my husband to the limit (2 months, I think), before I brought it in to refinish.  I wish now that I had done it in black, but it's too late.  This desk is super wide and had a long drawer in the middle and 2 drawers on the side.  It also has one of those pull out pieces that accountants use.  That's the part that sold me.  I figure I can put my instructions/pattern/tutorial on that part.  I also decided that I wanted it situated in the room this way.  It gives me more room to work with large projects, and I also have the other side for my cutting mat.  This is a big improvement over my previous cutting table, the floor.  I got the chair for $8 at Goodwill and spray painted it .   (The box on the floor is stuff to pass along to my friends who might use it!)

 

Our family Christmas picture also works really well in here.  I hadn't intented to hang it in here, but it looks much better than in the living room.  I like it because my sweet boy gets excited everytime he notices it and tells me who is in the picture.  Precious.

It's still a work in progress, but so is everything else in my life.  I have alot more room to work, and there's alot more room to have other people in here with me.  I like it that my daughter can watch a movie while I sew noisly in the background.  She does not.   Don't let the pictures fool you though, there are still 3 small piles of stuff that have yet to find homes in the new space.  I'll get to them one day....

Wild Olive Stitch Swap

Mollie at Wild Olive hosted a switch swap in March.  You were supposed to stitch up a 4 inch hoop and send it your partner.  I was very excited when I got mine since I had totally forgotten it was coming.


A swirly S.  We were supposed to say what colors and motifs we liked.  I wasn't very helpful with motifs, but I did say that I liked green.  It's like Sarah knew me.  She did have this blog to look at!

This is my hoop.  My person, Jennifer, said she liked floral motifs and pink.  I'm pretty sure that I'll never get the glitter all cleaned up, but I do like the way it looks on the hoop.  This is one of the Garden Gals from one of the patterns over at Wild Olive.  I really like how she turned out.  I had a hard time finding something small enough that I liked. 
If you've never done a swap, I would encourage you to be on the look out for one that's interesting to you.  It's a nice way to challenge yourself and get something made just for you in return!

Back in business!

So I had the great idea to switch the office/sewing room with my daughter's bedroom.  I thought that I could get it all done in one long weekend.  Apparently that was a ridiculous thing to think!  I've spent the last 3-4 weeks trying to get this project finished!  I had to paint both rooms, clean the carpets, assemble some new furniture, empty both rooms, and fill them up again.  We are all pretty happy with how it is turning out.  I have a small pile of stuff to give away still and a small box of stuff to find places for.  My daughter loves her new yellow room.  I love my new gray office.  I'm going to try to post about it tomorrow.

I've wanted to make my son a bunny shirt for weeks now because he LOVES bunnies for some reason.  This was my first project on my new desk!  Simple and quick.  Very satisfying!

 

Rotten little thing!  He was excited about wearing his bunny shirt and wouldn't stop playing with the fluffy tail! 

I'm very excited to have a clean (for today!) space to be sewing in again.  I feel very motivated to get some things made!  Off to schedule some more posts....

McEgg Baby Quilt

When Mandy sent an email with the fabric she had chosen for little Salvador Dali, I remembered I had some scrap packs with it in them.  I just love the little blue and green animals and got inspired when I was looking through the scraps for them.  I used several other blue and green "boy" scraps that I found.  I think the sketched cars and truck are my favorite.  My boy like the dinosaurs and carried the fabric around.  A pair of dinosaur pants is now on my list of to dos!

The back is a dot striped sheet from Target.  It wasn't the plan, but it matches perfectly! I also used it for the sashing on the front. 

I didn't get a great picture, but I quilted it with swirly circles, I guess I'd call them.  I also outlined the squares.
I hope little Snoop Dogg McEgg loves it.  (No?  Speedy Gonzales?  My favorite, Sammy Davis?  What do you have?)

Embroidery 101 Finish...finally!

So I've been gone forever! I always hate it when bloggers disappear. I've been having some migraines that put me out of commission for a week or so. Then I started working on some baby gifts that I don't want to post until the mommies get them. I did finish this quilt weeks ago and have been waiting for the opportunity to take some good pictures of it. Apparently that is never going to happen, so these will have to do. I really like the finished product.

The front of the Embroidery 101 quilt. It makes me want to take a picnic.

The back. On of my favorite backs I've done. I had to creatively piece it because I was not going to buy any more fabric!

I think this little block is my favorite. I love the picnic basket.

I know that several of my loyal followers really liked this quilt as well, so I thought I'd mention that Clover and Violet are getting ready to start Quilt Along. Go check it out. I'm going to do it, I think. I'd love to actually know someone who's working on it in real life!

January Bee Creative Block

I finished my actual Bee Creative block. It's not as bold as the other one, but I think it goes with the other blocks that everyone is making a little better.

For February we're making red and white pin wheels. I'm still looking for one I love. Any suggestions?

Bee Creative

I joined my first bee! Our first block is a Union Jack. We were supposed to do it in whatever colors we wanted. It's a paper pieced block, which is super intimidating to me! I decided to practice with this block. I forgot a few times to add the outside seam allowance to the pieces, and I had to unpick about 8 seams, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I don't love these color choices, so I think I'm going to use something else for my real block!

WIP Wednesday 01/11/2012

My first WIP Wednesday of 2012! I'm going to start my list fresh.

My favorite ongoing project! These are 1 inch hexagons. I've actually made a couple more flowers since I took this. If you haven't tried hexis, they make a great TV watching/car riding project.

This is going to be a gift for someone who reads my blog, I think, so I'll just give you a little taste!

This is an I-spy quilt top. It's only partly finished. I'm going to finish it. Really, I am.

Some half square triangles that I started months ago for a quilt.

Christmas HST destined to be stockings.

Forrest friends string blocks. I have everything cut to make more of them, so hopefully soon these will become a baby quilt.

Embroidery 101 quilt. Basted and just waiting to be quilted.

Birdie Stitches quilt. Top done. Back almost done. Needs to be sandwiched, basted, and quilted.

I spent a couple of days since New Year's Day cleaning up my sewing space after the tornado of Christmas hit it! I had just been sticking stuff where it would fit or just piling it up. I put each of the WIPs in a ziplock bag with all the pieces that go with it. It's much easier to keep them straight. Plus when I want to work on one, I just grab the bag. The only WIP I didn't get a picture of is my Skill Builder Sampler, which I am terribly behind on. It's in the top clear box.  

Completed Projects: 0
Currently in Progress: 9

Be sure to check out what Lee is working on at Freshly Pieced!

12 Lofty Quilty Goals for 2012

1.  Participate in a bee.  I'm already signed up for one and am very excited about it!
2.  Post a tutorial.
3.  Make 12 gifts.
4.  Catch up and finish the Skill Builder Sampler
5.  Make a twin sized quilt for my little boy's big boy bed (which I imagine he will get this year!)
6.  Make a queen sized quilt for our bed.  I have everything to make a Swoon quilt for us.
7.  Make something special for my husband.  He complains that I make stuff for everyone else!
8.  Make a dress and actually wear it somewhere!
9.  Make a twister quilt.
10. Finish the Birdie Stitches and Embroidery 101 quilts.  Both just need quilted and bound.
11.  Complete 4 unfinished projects or give them to someone else to finish/repurpose.
12.  Make a t-shirt quilt (January's Second Saturday Sewing project!)

There are my goals for 2012.  Totally doable.  What are yours?

2011 in Review: Part 2~ Lofty Quilty Goals

Last year I set some quilting goals for myself.  For me it was a nice thing to check back on throughout the year and see if I was really doing what I wanted to be doing.  I wasn't sure if I was going to stay into the whole sewing thing, so I set pretty general goals.  I think I did pretty well.

For 2011 I have a couple of quilts I want to try to make. First I'm going to try to do Birdie Stitches Block of the Month. I love to embroider and I like to quilt. Hopefully I'll end up with something I love. (I've finished all of the blocks and have them pieced together.  Just need to finish the border for the top and quilt!)

I also have all of the fabric to make The Orange Quilt. I have a bunch of orange and aqua Jay McCarroll fabric that I got on clearance at fabric.com. I love it and I think this would be a great quilt to use it! (Nothing on this.  I still have the fabric, but haven't cut into it!)

I would also like to make a zigzag quilt. Maybe a zigzag rainbow. (Done! I used the Punctuation charm pack below for this quilt.  I love it.)

I also have a Punctuation charm pack and Adoring Christmas one. I would like to make a gift quilt with the Christmas one and maybe a baby quilt with the other one. (See Above!  I didn't do anything with the Adoring Christmas.  I bought it on clearance and I don't love it, so I have a hard time wanting to use it.)

I have also gotten 30 30's reproduction fabrics. I'd like to make a 2 inch hexagon grandmother's garden with them. (Instead of a flower garden, I used these fabrics to make a plus quilt for my daughter.  We both love it.  It's my favorite project of 2011.)

I'm working on my list of goals for 2012.  I'm thinking 12 for '12. 

Handmade Holiday Winner!

Christy Ross! Winner! I'll send you a message!

2011 in Review: Part 1

2011 went so fast for me. I think there is something about babies that makes everything go in fast forward! My little man was still a baby at the beginning of 2011, but he's a little boy now! My sweet girl went from a little kindergartner to a big first grader with no teeth and quickly growing legs!
It was just after Christmas last year that I really got a sewing space set up, and it has made a huge difference! Even though I share it with the Wii and the DVDs and my husband's shoes, it's so nice to have a space for spreading out and making stuff. I finished 5 quilts in 2011.

I think my favorite was the zigzag. It was my first with a pattern that wasn't just squares. I also really still love the fabric. Daughter's plus quilt was a close second. It's by far the biggest quilt I've made...almost a double.

These are a few of the gifty type things I made in 2011. I think my favorite is the little princess dolls for my daughter. I made one to look like her, and she says it's her favorite. (I also made a set as a birthday gift and they were very well received.)

My 2011 bags. I gave 2 of these away for Giveaway Days and gave 2 as gifts. Daughter uses hers as her supply bag for Girl Scouts. My favorite is the Christmas tote. It was supposed to be a gift bag, but ended up being a great bag for carrying Christmas gifts, candy for the parade, and stocking stuffers!

My favorite sewing thing for 2011 has to be Second Saturday Sewing. When I first started it, I wasn't sure it would become anything. Maybe I was the only one who cared about making stuff. Turns out, it's a lot of fun. It's great to see 5-ish of my favorite people once a month. It's been awesome to see them grow in confidence and skill. I mean, my friend, Marie, hadn't ever really sewn and she finished a baby quilt for her first project! She made Christmas gifts and even got a new sewing machine for Christmas! I know it's a pain to drive to my house once a month, but thank you, ladies, for doing it!

I have lots of projects that I've worked on throughout the year that haven't been finished...yet. They'll be added to my WIP list for the new year. Come back tomorrow for my Quilty goals update. While you're here, why not tell me what your favorite finish was for 2011?