spring sewing and enjoying the sun!!

These past few days I've been enjoying the sunny spring weather and a little bit of sewing!! Combine those two and you can't get much better than that!!

After sending my Miss Dandy mini off I decided I really wanted to sew up some of my favorite swap pieces that I've sent off and have missed dearly!! I decided to do the double hourglass as that was the first one I had done for the Doll Quilt Swap quite some time ago. This time I made the double hourglass from the new Flower Sugar in red and aqua, and made it into a pillow!! It sure looks pretty sitting in all its glory on my armchair!! Hopefully in the up coming weeks I can wip up some of my other favorites I've made for swaps so I can enjoy them too. :)

Daffodils and my new spring pillow!! :)

Since this week has been so beautiful we went to the beach and park for the first time this year! It was so nice to be able to all go out and enjoy the beautiful spring weather!! We are suppose to be getting rain again so at least we were able to enjoy it while it lasted!!

A spring mosaic!!


Are you also enjoying the first week of Spring? I'd love to hear what you've been enjoying this week!! :)

little miss dandy day ~ a mini quilt!

I finally finished little Miss Dandy! I decided to do a mini quilt as then she could be hung so everyone could see her taking flight! I went really simple with the quilting, which was a hard decision for me since I really love to stipple. I was too worried that the stippling would take away from her. I really do like the simplicity of just stitching in the ditch so am glad I went that route. She is now flying to her new home.


I also made a cute little tea towel for my partner as a little extra. I had made a couple a while back and had an extra one laying around so stitched some cute little hexies on it like I had did before. :)

Hope everyone is having a whimsical Wednesday!!

bloggers block - a - palooza, block #15 ~ the double pinwheel!

Hello, I'm Kerri of Lovely Little Handmades, and Sew Deerly Loved!! I'm so glad to be part of this lovely quilt along with John of Quiltdad!!

This week we are doing a double pinwheel block, so lets get started!!

(I'm so sorry about the pictures, I did the block at night and didn't realize until I was done that the pictures where so bad.)

Cutting your squares~

• Cut two 3-7/8" x 3-7/8" squares from the floral fabric.
• Cut two 3-7/8" x 3-7/8" squares from the solid mustard fabric.
• Set aside.

• Cut two 3-7/8" x 3-7/8" squares of the green ticking stripe fabric
• Cut four 3-1/2" x 3-1/2" squares of the ticking stripe fabric, and then set aside
• Cut two 3-7/8" x 3-7/8" squares of the circle fabric
• Cut four 3-1/2" x 3-1/2" squares of the circle fabric, and then set aside

Making the half square triangles~

1. Draw a line from corner to corner on the wrong side of the flowered fabrics, then pair them each with the mustard fabric facing right sides together. Set aside

Now follow the same step above with your circle and stripe fabrics that are 3 7/8 inches.

2. Sew a 1/4 inch seam on each side of the drawn line on all 4 paired squares.

3. Cut with your rotary cutter on the drawn line of all 4 squares. Now you should have 8 triangles.

4. Press seams open, and then trim the corners of all 8 squares
.

Assembling your block~

1. Arrange your block with the 3 1/2 inch square blocks you had set aside with your half square triangle blocks so it looks like the picture below.

2. Sew row 1 together, and then follow with rows 2 thru 4, and press seams open.

3. Sew the rows together and then press seams open. You should have a 12 1/2 inch square block!!

Wasn't that easy peasy!!

Thanks for joining me, and next week is the final block with Vanessa of V and Co.

it's in the details!

The last couple days I've been working on the detailing of little miss Dandy! I really love watching a project come to life! Seeing something go from this...

...to this, is probably one of the funnest and enjoyable parts to being a crafter/sewer! I just love how she turned out and really came to life!! I think this is officially one of my favorite new techniques, interactive piecing!!

It is as she is really taking flight!! In case anyone is curious, for the detailing I machine stitched it using a stitch length between a 1 and 1.5 (for the more detailed areas I used a 1) so the stitches would be smaller and I'd have more control.

I'm still going back and forth with what to make, a pillow or wall hanging. The decisions are what I have the hardest time with. :)

I also received my lovely package for the Urban Home Goods Swap, from Melissa!! A cute mini that I already have hung right above my piano!! Isn't it lovely, and I don't know if anyone knows, but I really LOVE to sing, so this was perfect for me!!

I also received a set of cute matching coasters, with lovely ric rac trim!! THANKS, Melissa!!

I better get to deciding on what I'm going to make little miss Dandy into, so I can fly her home!! :)

a dandy day!!

I have to say today is a "dandy day"!! :) I got back to working on my urban home goods project I started a couple weeks ago. Today is the deadline so I am a little behind, and am a bit embarrassed with me being one of the admin!! I should be scolded!! I still have the detailing to do on the cute little interactive piecing I'm doing of the oh, so cute dandy day print by Lucky Nielson!!

What do you think, should I make her into a pillow or mini wall quilt?

This week-end I spent a few hours and went antiquing with my girls!! We had lots of fun going to a Scandinavian town nearby and going to several shops, including a couple antique stores!! Here are a few things I found!

Vintage spools!!

A red Pyrex dish, along with some cute vintage hankies, and some vintage seam binding!

I also found this vintage pillow cover! It still needs a backing on it, but with it being square it seems it is was suppose to be a pillow cover.

Hope everyone is having a magical Monday!! :) Back to my UHGS project!!

a little nw fun!!

This last Friday I was able to attend the Northwest Trade Show and had a wonderful time meeting some of the reps for Riley Blake, Michael Miller, Seven Islands and a few others. With only having the one day I tried to fit in the most I could.

That morning before the trade show I decided to whip up a cute new book bag so I'd have something to put all those lovely catalogs and papers in. I think it turned out pretty cute for only having a short time to finish it.

A close up of the cute crocheted trim. I'm loving all the lovely crocheted trims right now.

The highlight of my trip was definenatley meeting with the Riley Blake reps. I think I spent several hours just at their booth talking, and looking at all the new fabrics collections that will be coming out in the next several months. Oh, and they are some of the CUTEST!!! So I ordered quite a bit!!

I think this might be my all time favorite!! The new hoo's in the forest collection by doohikey design!! I can't wait!! I think this ones comes out in May or June.

The new Sew Cherry collection by Lori Holt of Bee in My Bonnet! This one comes out next month!! It isn't it just so pretty!!

Alphabet Soups by My Mind's Eye!! I love how they have the boy and the girl collection!! This one comes out in June or July.

The adorable Christmas Candy collection by doodlebug designs!! This one comes out in May!!

Pirates by Emily Taylor! A great collection for boys!!

If you notice in the lower right hand corner of the pictures how Riley Blake is now offering charm packs, layer cakes, fat quarter bundles and jelly rolls (they call them rolie polies)! YEAH!! I love pre cuts so ordered lots of those!!

There were several other collections that weren't in the catalog but they are just as cute!!

Hope everyone is having a terrific Tuesday!!