2012 In Review

Wow, as the year ends and I put together all the projects I made over the year, I realize what a successful year it was.  Before today, it didn't feel as successful because I still have so many works in progress.  Oh well, I will start that post sometime in the new year.

For now, here is a collage of all my 2012 Completions!

Happy New Year!

Custom Cover

I made a custom stand mixer cover for a customer this past month.   I love the fabric, Tradewinds by Kate Spain for Moda, piped in a lime green.

On the inside, I used the tea cup fabric to line the cover.  It is fully reversible now and I hope my customer likes the cute little surprise.

Placemats

 So I started out a few months ago making placemats for my little kitchen table.  I love them and they are in my curent favorite fabric line, Vintage Modern by Bonnie and Camille for Moda.

They take up almost the entire table, but still I love them and they have been on my table for a month now.

Over the last few weeks, we got a few new pieces of furniture, including a larger table that sits six.  So now I am off to make two more placemats to fill in the empty spots.  I still need to finish the table runner, stand mixer cover, and hot pads.  I will get there eventually.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!  I hope everyone had a wonderful day, we were all spoiled rotten around here.

Earlier this month we went to the Zilker Christmas tree, a tradition in Austin.  We had a great time, we would have loved to go back for the trail of lights, but due to everyone in the house coming down with the crud, we never made it back.

The tree was so beautiful.

 And of course, you have to take a spin under the tree.

I was able to make a wreath, not as beautiful as the ones on Pinterest, but it worked.

Then Claire had a Christmas program (she is the one with short blonde hair and not looking at the camera).

We made Christmas cookies on Christmas Eve, for Santa, of course.

Claire also got a playscape on Christmas Eve, restored by her Grandpa.  Notice the short sleeves at the end of December.  In Texas they say, wait a day and the weather changes. Tonight it will be below freezing.  Crazy weather.

Today we saw lots of family and played with lots of toys.  I even got a gift of fabric from my mom.  She bought me some fat quarters of Cuzco to play with.

Halloween/October Wall Hanging...a few weeks late

I started working on this wall hanging in September, with the intention of hanging on the wall October 1st.  Well,  I didn't make that deadline, in fact, I just finished it this past weekend.  It took having surgery and being laid up in a recliner for a few days to finish up binding a lot of my projects.

I love the Ghastlie prints from Alexander Henry.  I chose Family Reunion print in deadly mauve.  I added in some prints from my stash to make the wonky log cabin blocks.   My favorite scene is the center scene, and I think fits great for my October wall hanging.  My husband an I were married in October, and I love the couple so I made it the centerpiece.

So it is either a month late, or 11 months early.  It is all in how you look at it.

I have had a lot of time to sit down and sew lately.  I decided to use some of my favorite Vintage Modern scraps and some hand quilting to make a little mug rug for my office desk.

I used Green Bee Design & Patterns' Little Bits Mug Rug.

I used several different shades of pink and aqua to hand quilt circles around the center of the rug.  I am really pleased with the outcome and I highly recommend following the pattern by Green Bee.

On the back i used my favorite print from the collection, Vintage Modern.  I have plenty more scraps and items on my list to make for my kitchen.  Time to get crackin.

Happy Halloween!

It is the Sunday following Halloween and I finally have my computer up and running and a moment to share our costumes with you.  I decided to do a family costume and Claire wanted to be Jessie from Toy Story. So of course she wanted her dad to be Woody and then I was to be Bo Peep.

For Claire's Jessie, I took an old pair of jeans and made some chaps and sewed them on. For the shirt, I bought a button down shirt for $6 from Old Navy and added the yellow cuffs and yoke.  The hat was bought by Grandma from the Disney store.

For my Husband, Woody, I made the vest and he had the rest in the closet.

Mine was a bit more complicated, but fairly easy.  I made a gathered skirt out of pink polka dot satin with a white cotton under skirt.  The top was a pink cotton Old Navy shirt with a blue satin overlay.  I used ribbon and lace to embellish the top.  Then late Tuesday night, I put together a simple pink bonnett.

Here is our family, after a good night of trick-or-treating.  I hope you all had a great Halloween and a great weekend!

Blogger Quilt Festival!

I have been on radio silence for a few weeks.  I have made some commitments and things have fallen through because of illness and my family commitments.  I would like to enter my favorite quilt I made over the summer before my life got crazy.

"All Because Two People Fell in Love" was a gift I made for my husband's grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary.  The quilt is a family tree with a leaf for each child, spouse, grandchild, and great-grandchildren. The tree and each leaf were appliqued onto the background.  

The heart depicts the love that Carmen and Jesse shared.

Here is the branch depicting my father-in-law's branch.  I hand stitched all the names onto the light greens and used the dark green leaves to fill in the background.

The quilt was bound in a similar fabric as the tree.

I am very pleased with the turnout of the quilt and couldn't have had a better response when I gave the quilt to my husband's grandparents.

Quilt Dimensions: 56" x 60"

Technique: Machine pieced back, with machine appliqued leaves and tree. Free Motion quilted on a small machine.

Best Category: Applique Quilt, Throw Quilt, and Art Quilt

Head on over to Amy's Creative Side for the rest of the Quilts

Kindermat Cover

Claire will be starting preschool here in a few weeks and on her supply list was a nap mat and cover, blanket and pillow.  I googled and found some great options on etsy, but of course I wanted to make my own.



The perfect fabric choice was Welcome to Bear Country by Moda. I used 2 yards of the bear country fabric, 1 yard pink microfiber fleece, 1 package of satin binding, and a fat quarter for the strap.  It was super simple and took about 2 hours from start to finish.





Here it is all folded up and ready to go.

Side view.

Linking up with 

September Just Three!

In August I started my job and finished up my first class in my Counseling degree.  So my I am 1 for 3 in my just three for August.

August Goals:
1.  Finish the Stand Mixer cover for my kitchen. No progress...Nothing

2. Make my Craftsy blocks of the month for July and August...Finished!

3. Quilt my placemats. Started on one of them...I am stuck because I do not know how to quilt them.

So now for my September goals..

1.  Nap Mat Cover for my daughter.

2. September Craftsy Blocks of the Month

3.  Stand-mixer cover...

August Blocks

I was very productive this weekend and also put together the August blocks for the craftsy block of the month quilt along.  Blocks 15 and 16 are stars using flying geese!

Block #15 is the Ohio Star.

Block # 16 is my favorite so far, the Double Star.

All 16 look so great together, only a few more days until the September blocks come out!