Buying patterns and kids sewing machine

I don't enjoy making clothes.  There is something about reading the patterns, adding all the little details like zippers and hooks and such that I just don't like at all.  However, I think that it is important to teach a young sewer how to look for them and find them.  If my daughter ends up enjoying sewing, she should know what her options are when she comes to a point where she wants to create.  3 years ago I snapped this shot..

Gah, she was so young.  She didn't even have glasses yet.  She has had glasses for as long as I can remember now. 

For Christmas I purchased an apron pattern and fabric to make it and wrapped it up in a box for her.  She wanted to sew last Sat, so I pulled it out and set her loose.  She got the pattern cut out before we needed to get some other stuff done.  I purchased that little purple Janome sewing machine on Amazon for her 6th birthday 2 years ago.  Giving a child a machine: has it's pro's and con's.  It is nice that she can sew herself.  It is frustrating trying to teach her how to put the bobbin in and thread the machine esp. since trying to pull the thread through the needle with the safety guard on the foot is SO frustrating.  I also need to get her a little light to attach to the machine so she can see better.  Otherwise, I have enjoyed that she has the freedom to create and try and discover things.  While the machine goes a constant fast speed which is a medium speed on my own machine, I like the little machine and how light weight it is.  It is nice to have something little to grab when I need a machine to go to a quick church sewing activity when I don't want to carry my bigger machine around.  I just have to be more patient when sewing because it takes more time. 

Hopefully, I find time to sit down and work with her on the apron this coming Sat so she can feel the accomplishment of finishing something fun.

Hope you enjoyed. 

Pillow Cases

Yesterday, my son had a bad nap.  He never went to sleep and eventually when he had a messy diaper, he pulled it off in his bed.  Nasty, I know!!!  At least he just left it alone, but unfortunately he sat on his ladybug stuffed animal pillow.  Yep, it just went in the trash.  After sleeping with two kids over 3 1/2 yrs it was just time.  I simply didn't want to try and clean it.  So, he got a big boy pillow last night.  I was really sad.  It just means that he is growing up.   I have had some fun bug printed fabric in my stash for quite some time.  I bought the ends of some rolls in a clearance section about 7 years ago hoping to make some baby blankets from them for my etsy shop.  That...never happened.  So I followed this Tutorial by Missouri Star Quilt Co.  It is super easy and super quick.  Each one only took 15 minutes from cutting, pinning to sewing.  I left out the 2 inch lip because a little boys pillow case doesn't need it.  I took me probably twice that long to just pick out the fabric in my storage room.  The two on the left are my son's.  The two on the right are my daughters.  She will get hers for Christmas.

Hope you enojoyed.

Christmas and Halloween Countdown

One day my mom gave me a bunch of her old fabric. With the batch of fabric came a pattern book from Nancy Halverson. As soon as I saw it, I knew that I had to make my dream quilt, the Twelve Days of Christmas. It is on my list of dream quilts to make. I have been collecting fabric for it for a few years now. However, this post is not about my dream quilt. But, I have to share one more story, sorry. I served a mission for the LDS church in Uruguay several years ago. While I was there I bought a few gifts to bring home for my family from Uruguay. I brought home a little wood engine that I thought would match her decorations in the kitchen. It was a changeable calendar in Spanish. She actually put it out and would change the date on the engine. I was happily surprised. I tried to take a picture of it the last time I was at my mom's house and she has put it away. I will have to post a picture later.

So, in the same pattern book she gave me there was a Christmas countdown. It was kind of the same idea as the engine, but something that would be put out only at holidays. Since my mom loves Christmas I thought that it would be a great to make a set of the countdown Christmas numbers. So I probably spent a year working on this project. Other's got in the way and in the end I didn't even finish before giving it to my mom. Terrible huh. I have not finished the block that stays up the whole month and says Countdown To... I will have to get that done this year.

Then again...when I first gave it to my mom it was missing the 6 and it took me all of Oct. last year to get the 6 to her. Ah, some projects just take forever.

The last story I promise to share in this post it the following. Looking at this project really makes me sad. I started working on this while I was pregnant. At the time I would take all of my sewing stuff to my grandma's on Sat's while Russ was at work and work on my sewing projects. I started cutting out the numbers while i was at the farmer's market that summer selling baby blankets. When I think of working on this project I think of my grandma. I got out their old card table to sew on and sat there next to my grandma's arm chair sewing. I miss her terribly. I miss taking by all the projects that I am working on and showing them to her. I could go on and on about the things that I miss, but I won't.

Here is a picture of the holder my husband made with his welder and spray painted gold.
He used hot glue for the feet. I now need him to make me one. :)

Here are some of the Christmas numbers.

Here is the Halloween side.

When I made this set, I made a matching set for me. I however, have not finished sewing all the layers together on mine. Maybe I will finish it for Halloween this year.

Hope that you enjoyed.

My whimsical garden

So, I have seen this pattern at the Quilting Cottage in American Fork for a while. I haven't really liked it before. Mostly, I just knew that the whole quilt was applique and would take a while. Well, the last time I went in there, I couldn't resist and I bought the pattern. I spent 3 hours yesterday copying the pattern and cutting out the pattern for the applique on the blocks and only finished cutting out 9 blocks of the pattern. So, hence...a long project. However, I am stocked!!! I am going to use scraps from all my bright colored quilts. I think that I have decided that I am going to use a white background for the blocks and the borders are going to be orange and I haven't decided on a second color. I think I will see how the blocks turn out first before deciding on a second color. As I work on each block I will post the finished products. I searched the internet for pictures of finished quilts last night and could only find a handful. Here is the picture from Pieces o-Cake website (the ladies that designed it).

Can you see this hanging on my wall come next summer (for even if I finish the top I don't think that I will finish the whole quit this summer) Well, here we go on a long project.

Hope that you enjoyed.

Halloween mania

Halloween has to be one of my favorite holidays. The fabrics and projects are amazing. I wish that I had money to spend right now to make many fun and wonderful projects. But, alas I must window shop all the cute ideas, put them in my bookmarks and hope for a later date. I saw some of the most fun fabrics at the Quilting Cottage yesterday. The oranges and purples had spiders and webs in the print. I liked that the print was not too big. I have been looking all over the internet for the company who makes the line, but apparently I should have written it down while I was in the store. I can't find it anywhere.

I was looking through the posts from blogs I follow and Crazy Old Ladies has started selling the following pattern on their etsy shop. I think that it would be super easy to make. The applique of the numbers would take a while, but it is really fun. I have been working on a countdown myself for the last year and when I finish one more block and give my mom her present I will post what I did. It is exciting after a year and a half to be finishing the one project that I meant to give her last christmas and didn't finish because of our moving and my morning sickness with my daughter.
I found this ladies blog...ps i quilt. She has all sorts of different things on there and this free tutorial.
And you can go through and look at several free tutorials on Free Quilt Patterns.info. It has a list of free tutorials and links to them. It is a great site.

Well, I would post more of the pictures, however, my house is calling and I have a sleeping baby. I better get cleaning before she wakes up.

Amalie

cool quilt blog

I just got a new computer. I love love love it. It is all mine and I don't have to worry about what I put on it. I decided to go through and change Mozilla Firefox and my settings. I downloaded a tool bar called Stumble! Wow......this was a very bad thing for me. You put in the subjects that you would like to search on the web and you click stumble. It takes you to various websites that pertain to your interests. Of course I put in sewing and quilting and Red Pepper Quilts was one of the sites that I stumbled on tonight. I love the various pictures of the quilts that she has. Are they not beautiful? Like this one...I love it!!!!!!!!!!
or this great strip quilt. I love the colors, the fabric and the scallop look on the edge.
Or this oneOh, I just think that they are fun pictures. Hopefully I can finish my million projects and then be able to sew some quilts like these.

Amalie

The new and want to do

After months of no posts, I am back and I have so much to show and share. Last summer I was working at the farmer's market in Provo having fun selling the baby blankets that I had been making for my etsy shop. Well, when I went back to work at the end of August, I simply didn't have any time to work on anything. #1 I was working to much and #2 I started getting super sick and we found out on my birthday the second week in Sept that we were expecting! Our very first little girl is due end of April. We are super excited. After nearly 19 weeks of terrible morning sickness, I started feeling better and finally had a few minutes to myself, just in time for the owner's of our home that we lived in for 2 1/2 years to sell and we had literally 4 days to pack and move. It was rough. I completely wore me out. We moved into a new unit by the same owner's and thought we aren't going to be here long, so I thought that I would never start sewing again.. .. however, Christmas break approached and I was finally not sick anymore, and I unpacked my boxes. A 3 week break from work, full of work on my old projects, was what I needed. It helped start bringing some sanity back into my life.

Just 4 days before my Christmas break we found out that we were having a little girl. I was ECSTATIC!!! I have so many cute fabrics that I have been putting aside for my own use for a little girl someday. I have so many patterns of cute quilts, I had so much fun for days trying to figure out what I was going to make.

THEN......I told my husband my very very very bold goal.......I couldn't start any new projects for my little girl until all my previous projects were finished. This included all the wall hangings that were partially finished or just needed backing and bindings. My moms Christmas quilt was on the list....and I finished it just days before christmas. Well, I am going to take pics this weekend and post. I managed in 3 weeks with visitors for most of the time to finish 7 wall hangings, cut 600 blocks of levi fabric, my mom's Christmas quilt and my Christmas and fall quilts. They are awesome. Then I promptly started working on my baby's first quilt, recovering a car seat cover and so forth.

Well, I am finally to the point where I am enjoying looking a patterns again and relaxing a bit. Pregnancy has been a bit rough for me, but it has certainly motivated me to work on small tasks that I have been putting on the back burner for a long time.

So, I am posting today because I went to the Quilting Cottage in American Fork, ut (which is like 4 blocks from my house right now and my favorite local fabric store) to look at this amazing quilt. My friend bought me the quilt kit with pattern and fabric as a gift. I am sooooooo excited to make it!!!! The quilt is designed by the Crazy Old Ladies.

Then I found this book and this pattern!!! It is so cute! I have to make it right away....just a little bit different because I am not going to by the pattern and make my own appliques (yikes! I can't believe that I just said that!) You can find the book at TwoSashquilts.com. They are having a sale on the book right now while supplies last.

Well, there you have my findings of today. I have so much more to post in the coming weeks before the arrival of our little one. I have been working really hard when i am not tired and finishing so much more than I thought that I ever could....Hope that you enjoy!

Brown and Pink Spring Pattern

So, I have been just putting my life in order since coming home from vacation and it just takes time. I cleaned my craft room, went through all the magazines that I have had in a pile. Now I am ready to start working again. So, in my Clotilde magazine I found this pattern. I have enough scraps I think from a ton of different things that I think that I might be able to do this one with what I have. This is excellent since I have determined not to buy any crafty stuff for an entire month. I have to use what I have and finish the projects that i have been posting. I have so many backs to put on different table runners and wall hangings. Oh well. That is how it goes. I also want to start working on my levi quilt. I have collected toooooo many pairs of jeans. Oops, sorry for the rambling. Here is the quilt. Hope that you enjoy.

Riviera Table Runner

So, I was looking through my Connecting Threads catalog yesterday and I found this table runner. I mostly like it because of the colors of the material, however, I like the strips too. There are these two views on their website. I am going to have to go through my bright colored materials and see what I can do with them.

Back Porch Bouquet!!!

Oh my!!! I found this incredible quilt and fabric today. I love love love it!!! It is from Maywood Studio and the line is called Back Porch Bouquet. This is the pattern with the pink fabrics.The next one shows some of the purple fabrics in this set. I love purples and some day want to make a big quilt of all purples. I don't care for the pattern as much.This site has tons and tons of patterns and has many free patterns. You should all check it out!

Duquesa pattern.

So a couple weeks ago I posted the material from the Duquesa II collection from Moda. Well, here is the pattern that I found on Blank Quilting that uses that fabric. I kind of like it.
Here is just the cutest little boy quilt you have ever seen.

Two More patterns

So, I wasn't quite finished with the pattern looking on New Leaf Stitches. Here are a couple more really really cute ones!

Snippets of Spring

On New Leaf Stitches, they have a list of different patterns. They are mostly quilts and wall hangings, but a few of them are pillows and purses. I really liked this one called Snippets of Spring.

And these table runners called Spice Rack.

My new magazine

While I was on vacation, I went to the store with my mother-in-law and while we were waiting to get our fabric cut, we started looking through different magazines. There was an ad for the new Moda precuts. Right now you can buy cuts of each fabric in a collection in Jelly Rolls (strips 2 1/2"by 40"), Charm Packs (5"by5"), Fat Quarters (18" by 22") and Layer Cakes (10" by 10" squares). Now they are going to have Sweet Rolls (strips 1 1/2" by 40") and Turnovers (6" squares cut to be triangles!) This is going to be awesome. One less thing to cut if you want a quick project. At Homespun Hearth, they are selling the Sweet Rolls 20% off right now.

Speaking of quick projects, I subscribe to Quick Quilts. One of my favorite things about getting magazines in the mail is looking up the ads and seeing what new things there are to find. I found this site Pacific Rim Quilt Company and they specialize in Hawaiian Quilt prints and applique. They are sure pretty to look at. I am not particularly into this but, it is fun.

On Andover Fabrics they have a new fabric called Alpha Buddies by Nancy Davis Murty. They are sure cute if you have little kids! There is a free pattern download with this collection too. Well, the picture is a little small, but the animals are way cute!!

Ah!! A pattern!!!

So this free pattern that I found on PB textiles and uses the Morrocan Spice material that I posted down below a couple weeks ago. Now, I think that I am going to have to buy the material to make this.

New Site and Fabric

I got my Christmas present from Abby today, and opened it. I know, it is several days before Christmas, but I just can't wait. (Unless it is from my mom and she is trying it on me and I have my eyes closed. Then for some reason, because I can feel it, it is ok to wait until Christmas.) She gave me two really really cute patterns. One of them led me to Thimble Blossoms. She got me this one, which is called Babydoll and it is pattern #105. It has instructions for one little girl sized quilt and one quilt for her baby doll. I love the circles in the pattern.Sorry the image is so small. I couldn't get the page to load on my computer. My computer is having a lot of problems right now. I really like this site because it has a lot of more modern designs. You can buy any of them on their Etsy shop.

The best part of this site was seeing the creations of the people that have made one of my most recent new Moda Collections: Cotton Blossoms. I love the brown fabrics in this collection. You must take a look at it on any fabric website. You can mix and match all the different colors that are in this collection: green, orange, brown, and much more.

Then I clicked on a link to another shop and found Cotton Way. Wow, there are some really really amazing patterns on this site. Like this one called Star Struck.
The lady that runs this site has an amazing list of patterns. Everyone really must check it out!

So, the next new site that I added I found on a fabric at Walmart of all places. I don't really like the picture of this fabric online, but I loved it in the store. I really really like butterflies. This is something that if you read this blog you will realize from time to time. Cranston Village has a few unique and different materials. Here is the one that I really like. As far as I can tell, all of the projects that they have on their site, you can download all the patterns. While, I particuarly don't like all the projects, they are really good instructions. I really like their fall harvest table runner. Hope that you enjoy the new sites!

Going through my patterns

So, I was going through my patterns since I don't have to work in the mornings this week and I am going out of town for a whole week next week, I wanted to plan out what I am going to work on and take with me. So, I found this pattern in my stuff. I had totally forgotten about it. I am so excited to work on it. It is called Ciopinno from Quilt Soup pattern co. Ciopinno is apparently a Italian seafood stew and the stew recipe is attached in the pattern. Fun. But then I checked out the Quilt Soup Company website and also their blog. Oh my! They are just a pattern company and they have some really really fun stuff. This next one is the other one that caught my eye. It is called Love Ya Oodles. Cute huh!! It looks like most of the patterns a little more than beginner piecing and some applique involved. But, don't let that scare you! Piecing is easy after you start and the pictures and diagrams in the patterns are easy to figure out. Do a google search of applique and you will find lots of videos to help on youTube. There are also a few free patterns. This next one, called Spoonful of Sugar is one of the free patterns. I think that I am going to have to make this one. So, you need to also check out their blog. They have some great links to other blogs. I am going to try and put them on the list of blogs on this page so you can all get to them from here. Hope that you enjoy!

4th of July table runner

Oh this is so cute. I am going to have to make this will all the fourth of july fabric that I have been collecting. I found it on fabric.com.