my heart sings for you!

Have you seen the adorable birdie quilts that Erin of Why Not Sew? has made!?! They are simply the sweetest!! On Monday she made a sweet valentines one, that totally inspired me!! I had to make one, and it couldn't just go on my list, I had to make one now!! Though I have a kazillion other wip's, they could wait!! :)

I did a version of her sweet valentines one but changed it up a bit so it could go above my piano. One thing about me, I heart music, and really have a special place in my heart for it... so a birdie quilt mixed with a music theme is what I went with.

A bit of a close up of the quilting. For the border I tried loops for the first time which was fun!!

My daughter instantly wanted a picture with it, as it matched her new panda sweater!! :)

In its new home above the piano!!

I hope you are having a wonderful week so far!!
See ya next week!!

a little late

It has been a little quiet on my blog lately!! We've had lots of family in town the last little bit, and have enjoyed all the time we've had with my husband family and some of mine!!

I started this fun little pinwheel pillow back in November for the Savvy Seasons swap, but ended up going in another direction. I set it aside for awhile but got it done right before Christmas so we could still enjoy it. I really love how it turned out and how it has just a little touch of winter to it.

To make the pinwheel blocks I used the Lil' Twister tool!! It was sure a fun way to make them. All you do is use 5 inch charm squares (I cut my own), and then sew them as a patchwork. Then you take the tool and place it on the seams and rotary cut around it, and voila you have your blocks for the pinwheels.

I also got our Little Miss Winter all finished up right before Christmas too. I did a few adjustments to the pattern, but am thinking I need to do a few more before I post a tutorial. So hang in there...it will come. :)

I also added a cute little crochet flower and button as a little hair piece. I wish I would have thought of that for my first one. For the lace I used some vintage lace that came off a sheet!! :)

Now that we are back to a normal schedule, it will be nice to get more sewing done! At least I hope so. :)

Happy Tuesday, my friends!!

a polar bear pillow and thank you sale!!

Polar bear, polar bear, what do you see? I see a pillow to cuddle and snuggle, in these cold winter months!!

I started this ever so sweet double wedding ring pillow quite some time ago with Laurie's polar bear spoonflower fabrics. After seeing her new Brrr! fabric that will be releasing in June, it made me want to finish my pillow!! I sure can't wait to see these lovely fabrics on the bolt! I may just have to make a quilt to match my lovely new pillow!!

I used Essex Linen in white for the background and a white ticking for the binding. I love how the double wedding ring really pops!!

For the hand stitching I used DMC floss in red, aqua and grey to add a nice clean touch!

Here is Lauries new fabric collection, Brrr! in red and aqua!! It also come in the traditional Christmas colors, red and green.

I'm so glad I finally finished my pillow!! Now I get to enjoy all its loveliness!! I need to pull out my other wip's and get those finished up too!!

As a thank you for all your support through the year, I'm having a little sale in my shop till the end of the year. So today and tomorrow, you can take 10% off your purchase in my shop!! Just use coupon code thankyou10 at checkout and it will automatically be applied to your order. This is the first "sale" I've offered all year so make sure to take advantage of it if you've been wanting to get any fabrics, patterns or trims. :)

Hope everyone has a Happy New Year!!

little miss winter!

Little Miss Winter is all ready for her holiday travels!! She has her suitcase packed and ready to go!! But, shh, don't tell, as she is headed first to her new adoptive home!! :) I have her twin sister almost all stitched up as well too, and will get to enjoy all her holiday travels in the Northwest!!

Little Miss Winter was sew much fun to make!! I think she is one of my favorites!! I made her a bit smaller than the last few I've made and am sure happy with how she turned out!!

Her sweet little face was inspired by several of revoluzza's dolls that I've sure admired for quite some time!! For her body I enjoyed embellishing her with a couple cute polka dot buttons, some ric rac, and a little bit of crochet lace.

I used some of the sweet snowflake and polka dot fabric from this set for her hat. For the body I used some of the grid fabric from City Weekend for the hands and body, for the skirt I used the Swoon fabric from Bonnie and Camile. For the legs I used some Children at Play stripes for leggings from Sarah Jane, and some Gray corduroy from Joanns for the boots. For the face I used Essex linen, and wool felt.

I cut a simple little scarf out of the wool felt to keep her nice and warm during her travels. :)

Ta Ta!!

Well now I need to get some lovely packages shipped, and then tackle my huge pile of laundry...and when I say huge, I mean a huge mountain. It has been a bit crazy with my help gone the past couple weeks keeping up with everything. But I'm glad to say I've been making it through, and am even happier she'll be back for next week!! Hip hip hooray!! :)

PS. This week I got in the new Flower Sugar, and I already have it listed in the shop!! Go check it out as it is soo pretty!!

felted wool garland

Have you seen these felted wool garlands popping up!?! I've been wanting to make one for quite some time but noticed the little felted balls are not that cheap for such a small little thing. After seeing an easy peasy tutorial on how to make them, I knew I could do it!! It is a pretty simple process and fun to work with the wool. There are lots of things you can adorn them with and thought the garland would be perfect for a picture frame!!

This cute little illustration, "Here, Little Bird" is from Tasha's shop!! Isn't it just sooo sweet!!

With this garland being my first there was a little trial and error, but think it turned out pretty good!! I'm thinking of making one for my partner for the savvy seasons swap as a little extra.


I've got lots of sewing I need to get done this week, so better get my bootie in gear!! :)

Happy Monday, my friends!! See you later in the week!

a start

This week-end I was able to start on my project for the Savvy Seasons swap. I've got the top pretty much done for either a pillow or maybe a mini quilt. I may add a little more if I do a mini quilt, but still trying to decide which direction to go. What do you think, a pillow, a mini, or another suggestion??

I really love this cute little twist on the pinwheel!! It is so scrappy and fun!! My partner asked for something that could be out through all winter so there are no real Christmas fabrics, just some fun snowflakes and then some pretty Ruby, polka dots and stripes. Can you tell, my partner also likes red and aqua!?!

I am working on another project for my sweet partner but I know if I show then it will be quite a giveaway to my partner that it is for her. So I'll be waiting to show you what else I'm working on, but I have to say...it is cute!! :)

Also, have you noticed I'm getting farther behind on my FMQA blocks!! I was doing so well with keeping up this summer, but fall has certainly made me "fall" behind!! Yikes!! I'm thinking definitely of doing a lap size now, so hopefully with a few more I'll be good to start putting it together soon. Here is my most recent block~

{53} Jackknife

I hope everyone is having a marvelous Monday!!

simple patchwork

Lately there hasn't been much craftiness going on in my house. With the kiddos back in school I thought I'd have much more time for sewing, but sadly that hasn't been the case. It feels a little pathetic, less children at home = less sewing??? Doesn't quite make sense to me!! Maybe since my helpers are gone, now my little ones seem to get into much more mischief so that equals more work for mommy, and more difficult to get a few moments away here and there to sew!!

The other week-end I did do a little sewing with my girls, little patchwork doll quilts!! They picked out their fabrics and we cut them into squares and then they sewed the simple little patchwork together. I did simple line quilting and then added the binding!! They were soo excited to have cute matching doll quilts for their dolls!! It made it even that much more special since they did most of the sewing!!

a little quilt for Little Red Riding Hood!

she looks so happy under her comfy little quilt!

the polly dollie quilt!

most of these squares are from Hoo's in the Forest charm pack! !

I think I'll help them make matching pillows next. Wouldn't that be cute!! :) Though, I learned one thing while giving them this little sewing lesson, to work with them one on one instead of working with them together. They seemed to compare and have several little arguments during the process. So even though it was enjoyable to teach them a little bit of my love of sewing, I learned from this experience.

pinwheels!!

I got all my pinwheel blocks sewn for the Pinwheels in the Park Quilt! It was fun to work on such large blocks after sewing so many of my fwqa blocks that are really tiny!! The pinwheel blocks are 14 1/2 inch square...really big! Yeah for big blocks!! They also came together pretty quickly, which was great too!!

I think they turned out really cute!! I used Annie's Farm Stand, Lecien Old New, and Flower Sugar, the Sugar and Spice Stripes, and the Solid is Moda's Bella Solids in PFD White.

I also used some cute pinwheel fabric since I received my Sarah Jane, Children at Play fabric last week (they were holding it since the embroidery patterns hadn't come in yet). The cute red and aqua pinwheels were perfect for this quilt!!

The oh so pretty Annie's Farm Stand!!

Remember to let me know if you're making one too so I can cheer you along!! :) Next week we'll be adding the sashing and border to finish the quilt top!! I can't wait to see it all come together!!

I'm off to the beach with the kiddos! Trying to enjoy the sunny weather while we still have it. :)

pinwheels in the park

Oh, how I love pretty pinwheels!! When I saw this cute Pinwheels in the Park quilt and tutorial from Sew, Mama, Sew! it went straight to my list of quilts to make. Andrea from Knitty Bitties and I are going to make the Pinwheels in the Park quilt during the month of August!! We'd love to have anyone who also wants to make one join us so we can cheer each other on and have a finished quilt by the end of August!! Here is the schedule we set for ourselves~

August 1-7 ~ Cut Fabric/Blocks
August 8-14 ~ Sew Blocks
August 15-21 ~ Finish up blocks & sew quilt top
August 22-31 ~ Quilt & Bind

Make sure to checkout the tutorial, it is super easy and gives step by step instructions. Andrea and I will post pictures of our progress during the month to cheer each other on!! Let us know if you'd like to join in too!! We'd love to have ya quilt along with us!! :)

Here are the 12 fat quarters I chose for my quilt! I went with 6 darker and 6 lighter fabrics.

Also, here are my week 9 blocks for the fwqa, Mothers Dream and Broken Dishes!!

{58} Mother's Dream

{11} Broken Dishes

I had fun making a cute shabby chic clothespin by painting, sanding and then adding a little fabric to it!! I saw one kind of like this on Etsy so had to make one!! Now to make some more and in different sizes!

I'm heading out of town tonight, for the rest of the week! I get to have a little girls retreat to the coast of Oregon! My hubby will be keeping up shop and I'll check in here and there. :)

See you when I get back!!