a few more new designs....

An adult tee with bird applique - this one turned out awesome!



A cute boy's tee with tractor and '3' for 3rd birthday shirt - for my friend Karin's son

up next are designs for robots, elephants, owls, cupcakes, dinosaurs, sailboats, firetrucks, dump-trucks and much, much more!

i have some fabulous ideas for simple, modern baby quilts....can't wait to show you!

what happens....

when your mom sews and can't find any cute boy clothes??



this happens.......

my friend karin and i have put together quite a few possible ideas and i will be sharing them with you over the next few weeks and months. some will become available for sale and custom sizing in my etsy store after quality testing is finished.

on another note here is a sneak peek at the 4 blocks going into my first Project Linus charity quilt. I am designing, constructing and quilting 2 quilts for Project Linus in SW Florida, which they donate to children in need. I chose to do 2 quilts for girls, since I have 2 boys at my house and do not get a lot of opportunity to play with girlie colors!! I will be piecing around these blocks and then I'm contemplating trying 'organic quilting' (this link shows a good example of what i'm talking about-she refers to it as random straight line, but myself and a few others say 'organic') with these, but i'm not completely certain yet.

Peace, Love & .......

I have been working on a few new projects in the new year. My friend karin asked if i could help her make a custom baby gift, and of course, if you know me well - then you know this sparked tons of imagination for me and the ideas came so fast I couldn't catch up with them... Thanks to her it led me to doing a few other things that have been sitting on the back burner in the right side of my brain!

Here is a shot of my first custom adult applique shirt - modern style.

Peace, Love & Wool

Peace, Love & ......... what would yours say??? I will show you what mine says in a week or so!

I also finished my blocks for Cancer is Sew done, in the nick of time. I met my February 1st deadline a week early! They were fun and easy to make once I found the extra time to do them. I am making 2 child size quilts for Project Linus and will use 2-3 of the friendship blocks in these quilts also.

The top one is from Amy Butler's 'I love Lotus' fabric line and because I ran my deadline so short I didn't have a chance to go get some solids to add in, so i put all of the patterns together - this wasn't my first choice and I don't think i would ever do it for an entire quilt - but it did grow on me. The 2nd block is from the 'everyday is christmas' group and i little more in favor of my modern taste - i like the pink thrown in with the xmas fabric.

I have spent a few days reflecting on where sewing has taken me in my life. I was introduced to it at a very young age by my Aunt who had 3 boys and no girls. She and my Uncle were always hand-making me things and their youngest son was 9 years older than me, so I would say i was definately spoiled by them. I have very fond memories of Strawberry Shortcake dollhouses, a giant rocking giraffe, handmade barbie clothes and doll clothes. The best hand-painted doll chest for my 'American Girl' doll and clothes to go with. My 2 sons play with many of these items today (among their loads of trucks, legos, trains and all-boys toys!). She taught me how to sew and gave me the fabric and tools i needed to construct my first quilt with 4" square blocks when I was probably 8 or 9 years old. I still have that quilt and dabbled in and out of sewing during the years but never 'really' getting into it until after my first son was born.

Suddenly I felt the need to create again and began reading and researching everything sewing i could get my hands on. I borrowed, then bought my own machine and took it up again. Most of you know where that took me and I founded and owned a custom sewing company for 4 years until I sold it. I began sewing for myself again and started thinking of what I was really passionate about - learning the art of quilting. Then I began sewing cloth diapers for a good friend. I have been doing that for about a year and a half now and have enjoyed every minute of creating the delicate pieces. I just learned a few days ago, very sadly, that she has decided to close up shop. Such a hard decision that many small business owners, especially in the craft and hobby, sector, and much WAHM businesses (work at home mom's) have to contemplate. The art of balancing raising children and working from home is almost impossible to achieve for the wages you make. I will be sad to sew my last 60 cloth diapers but am excited at where my sewing will go next.

After almost 6 years of constant sewing, I have finally realized I am somewhat of an expert in certain areas of sewing. It's funny to think that and really crazy to say it out-loud. But, I am a very good, detailed seamstress. By absolutely no means does this mean that I never rip out seams, or make mistakes, but my work is exceptional. I've spent many years learning, researching, trying new things and finding my niches and growing in my abilities - just as anyone else would in their full-time job. I can't wait to explore the next area and start creating my own quilts and putting my ideas on paper. I hope you'll enjoy the journey with me!

Welcome 2010

It seems like the last month has been a big frenzy sending us into the new year. We were so grateful to have family in town for 2 weeks after Christmas. We had so much fun even though the weather was exceptionally cold for southwest Florida. This week was our 2nd week back to school and of course the germs returned and our little guy is sick with virus and ear infection. He was so worn out yesterday he fell asleep on the bathroom floor waiting for me to get out of the shower and lay down with him!

My parents and grandparents drove down after Christmas and then my grandparents stayed an extra week afterwards. We did so many fun things....

Christmas pj's in person!

A little Rockband on Christmas Eve...


We spent a lot of time cruising around Coconut Point Mall...an outdoor mall less than a mile from our house with lots to do! Dad and the boys outside the Trek Bicycle Store...

The boys outside of Moe's - I'm so very lucky that they get along so well and love each other so much!

Dad taught Tyler how to hold up #2 for how old he is - try it - not an easy thing for chubby little fingers! More coordination involved than what we know!

Tyler and I at Lakes Park (the train park!)

I did get some sewing done over the Holidays, sadly I only had 1 WIP finish for the Joy in the New Year Challenge, but that is okay! My grandma brought her double wedding rings quilt that she had started hand-quilting about 15 years ago and hadn't done anything with for over 10 years. She had 8 blocks finished and we cut out the pieces for 4 more blocks and I machine pieced the little pieces for her. I was able to send her home with 4 more blocks to piece together - this definately brought Joy in the new year by starting an old project and adding another generation of sewing and handiwork to the project. When she originally starting cutting this quilt there were no rotary cutters. She was tracing the pieces by hand and cutting them out with quilting scissors. I introduced her to a mini-rotary cutter and mat and we cut the blocks in probably 1/4 of the time it would have taken years ago.

I also stumbled upon this challenge while at the bookstore browsing the magazine section...I've learned to use the memo function on my phone for things like this - I type in the title of a book, website, etc. when I find something interesting that I want to check out later, but not necessarily purchase the book or magazine. So, I came home and went on the All People Quilt 1 Million Pillowcase Challenge website and downloaded 4 FREE pillowcase tutorials. If you have a coordinating 1 1/4 yards of fabric you can donate to this wonderful cause and be part of the challenge. I tested out the basic pattern on a train fabric Tyler had picked out with Grandma over vacation. It is SO easy!!! Take the challenge today - I dare you!

I have also started another one of these pillows, because they are so easy and I love doing them - no measuring at all!! Other than that I managed to clean (literally wipe off) the top of my cutting / crafting table yesterday - which really means i sorted, put away, threw away all the contents crowding the top of it - this really needs to be done at least twice a year, right? I really wanted a fresh start to 2010~ and now feel like i have it. I have sorted my immediate sewing projects into 3 stacks for most current and hope to add to that often. I am starting a list on the left hand side of 2010 WIP's (works in progress) and hopefully they will filter into 2010 projects finished.

Last but not least I finished sewing these custom beauties yesterday for my friend / founder at OBB Diapers....aren't they amazing?

free motion fun

A few more hand-made Christmas gift done! On to the next one!

well i finally finished a WIP for the Joy in the New Year Challenge and here it is - not only is it my first completed WIP for this project, but my first time at free motion quilting - or quilting in general. I have made many quilts, but always handed them off and paid to have them actually quilted. I'm so excited and inspired by this - the possibilities are really endless and i really enjoyed doing it myself. I thought starting with a smaller project and christmas gift were the way to go. The tutorial for this 20x20 pillow can be found here - it was a super fast and fun project with excellent details on the tutorial. Mine came together in about 2-3 days including the quilting. The back is an envelope closing and I just chose a light pink Kona Cotton versus a pattern since the front was so busy - this will help for easy washing also.

Here is an up-close shot of the quilting - i did the 'pebbles' style like the one in the tutorial, but the next one I do I think I'll try the square in square for a more modern feel. I did use a light yellow thread and I think it added the appropriate 'charm' i was looking for. I am very happy with it!

Here are also the pictures from this years Christmas jammies for the boys. I went with flannel pants and an appliqued shirt. I left the edges raw on the shirt as I wanted them to fray after washing!

Austin's jammies (top) Tyler (bottom)

santa is so close...

At the beach Dec. 15th!

I Love the beach!!!!

It's hard to believe that Christmas is just 7 days away when you have 86 degree days at the beach : ) It's been quite the adjustment after living in the midwest with seasons for over 30 years! Your body really gets used to the season changes and my body is saying it's October! But, we love being at the beach in December and being active outside daily and this really is the best time of year here!

I have a lot of handmade xmas gifts 'in-process' including my 2nd annual making of the Christmas jammies for the boys - the pants are almost done and i found the shirts today - i should have a pic up by tomorrow - I think they are going to be awesome! A few other things are done - mum's the word - and the other's should be completed by the end of the weekend.

Next week the baking shall begin....cookies, cheese balls, meatballs, pies, and we got our ham for xmas day yesterday! I'm getting excited! Family rolls in on the 27th for a couple weeks and we can't wait!!!

Tyler's favorite 'surrogate' dog - they have really bonded!

what to eat??

another grand give-away!

i've snuck in a little time to take my 56 sailboat blocks to the next step....i'm trimming and prepping to sew the left sky piece on all the blocks via chain-piecing...i've come upon a block in the road though - austin has a full-size bed which has been the plan for this quilt all along...now we are contemplating getting 2 twin beds for the boys room....i of course have several weeks if not months to make up my mind - but do i forge ahead with the full size quilt or do 2 matching twin sizes?? ah - decisions!

If you are a fan of Denyse Schmidt and her style or fabric and haven't found this site yet you must check it out. It is titled 'Flea Market Fancy Freaks' those of us addicted to this so versatile fabric that seems to be the perfect addition to any project. They have a petition going to bring in another run of the Flea Market Fancy line. Check it out for a free chance to win some goodies!