GIVEAWAY!

Hi Friends!  I just have to take a second to pop in and tell you that I'm taking part in my first ever giveaway this week!  I figured I should let you know about it before it's over...

Hop on over to my friend Christine's blog for all the details (or click on the picture).  (Her blog is amazing.  Once you're there, you should stay awhile and check it out.  Seriously.)  I'm giving away a set of Santa/Mrs. Claus baby bibs, made by me!

Also, I planned to get some more Christmas items ready and listed in my shop by today, but somehow the week is totally getting away from me (GAH!  Is tomorrow REALLY Thanksgiving?  Why can't my babies take longer naps so I can get more done!!!  I have three pies to make!).
Anyway.  I should have them up by Friday, along with some Black Friday sales.  What would you prefer - discounts on items or free shipping?

Thanks everyone!

p.s. Happy Thanksgiving to my US friends!  

Puff Quilt #3: Scoot

I made another puff quilt!  This is my third one and it's boy themed (again).

You can see Puff Quilt #1 HERE and #2 HERE.  The next one is going to have to be girl themed.  And possibly raggy - I'm dying to try this new method!

These really are fun to make.  Although I think I stuffed my puffs fuller than normal this time around, which resulted in SORE shoulders when it came time to sew them all together!

This time around I used fabric that I won (sort of - I won a gift certificate and then proceeded to take months deciding what to use it on), mixed with a few bits and pieces left over from Kyler's growth chart and other projects.  Here's my initial fabric pull:  

The trains, helicopters, and words are from Deena Rutter's "Scoot" line.  The blue and brown stars/snowflakes are Jen Ski's "Ten Little Things."  The gray dots are Riley Blake, I think.

Sadly, the brown stars and the words didn't make the final cut, despite my best efforts to make them work.  I have big cuts of these -  I'll have to use them for something awesome.  I love texty prints, especially kid ones.  :)

I went for a sort of off center diamond layout with the colors.  Can you see it?

The first puff quilt I made was done using Honey Bear Lane's tutorial AGES ago.  She now has a pattern, if you want to make one of your own.  They really aren't too bad if you're willing to put in the time and muscle.  I love making them and my boys love squishing the puffs.  :)

Edited 6/13/14:  Linking up with Fort Worth Fabric Studio's "Oh Sew Baby" series.  Check it out!

Working with Minky

I found this HUGE cut of football fabric for an amazing price at a yard sale awhile ago and decided I wanted to make a car seat canopy with some of it. 

I've seen lots of cute car seat canopies made with minky, so I decided to give it a shot.  
What do you think?

Sewing the minky wasn't too horrible - it was cutting it to size that gave me a headache.  And the fact that you can't iron it.  That's all I'm going to say.

Once it was all sewn up, I thought it was going to look horrible - the two layers didn't seem quite the same size at first.  But when I put it on the car seat, it draped quite nicely.  Yay! 

I couldn't just settle for a plain canopy, so I made things interesting for myself and added a little strip across the front.

And I made it reversible, because - well, why not? 

Anyway.  It's up for sale in my Etsy shop.  One thing down, on to the next.  I can't wait to share my next project with you!  I just need to bind and photograph it.  :)  Here's a shot of my initial fabric pull:

I joined a bee!

So I debated joining an online quilting bee for a LONG time.  Then, when we moved to our new house in July, I decided it was time to take the plunge.  I put myself on the waiting list for do. Good Stitches.  This bee appeals to me the most because participants make blocks from their own stash - no going out and buying fabric, cutting it all up, and mailing the parts to bee mates so that they can sew it all up and send it all back.  This way seems a lot more economical to me.  :)  Plus, the quilts go to charity!  Bonus! 
Anyway, I was finally accepted into a new circle in the group called Humility.  We're going to be making quilts to donate to a Native American reservation in South Dakota.  I'm so excited - my month is May, so I've got some time to think about what blocks to request...
In the meantime, here are my blocks for November.  We were asked to make wonky stars and wonky log cabin blocks in fun, cheery colors.

More Oven Mitts

I made my mom some new oven mitts to replace her old ones that were approximately 100 years old.  They were a quick, easy project.  Happy Birthday Mom!

Kyler's Growth Chart

Remember Connor's BYU Growth Chart?

Well, Connor is going to have a new cousin soon, and his grandma was awesome enough to commission growth charts for both of them.  :)

I finished Kyler's growth chart the morning before I delivered it, and it was very hard to get good pictures of it, but here you go:

His mom asked for blue, green, and gray.  My stash is sorely lacking in those areas (especially gray), so I got to go shopping!  I think the color scheme Kyler's mom chose is awesome.  These are the fabrics I came home with (I supplemented this stack with some from my stash).  There's a little bit of Michael Miller in there, some Reunion, some Scoot, and a couple other line I can't remember at the moment.... See the little elephants?  I was so excited to find those - Kyler's nursery theme revolves around elephants.

This was a fun growth chart to make. 

But, like I said - so hard to photograph.

Kyler's mom wanted his full name on his growth chart, so I took all my pictures before adding the last two names (for privacy reasons).  You'll have to trust me when I tell you that it turned out even cuter than this.  But then I had to take a couple more right as I finished and I think they turned out a little better, so I have blurred his middle and last name out in these photos.  I wanted you to see how I attempted to make it so the binding marked every 12 inches on the chart (like a real ruler).  It's not perfect, but I think it works okay. 

What do you think?  This was fun to make, I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.  :)

P.S... These growth charts are available in my shop.