Family Indulgent Post

If you're only here for the sewing, feel free to skip this post because I might turn you green with envy.  :)  We had a family day today so we decided to go to the beach!  We live very close to some beautiful beaches (though I'm not really a beach person).  I really enjoy going when it's cooler out and there aren't any tourists.  We had a great time!

Cian and Daddy.  Cian is such a goofball!

Roarke making funny faces and Cian experimenting with the sand.

Cian loved to eat the sand!

Tasty!

Hmmmm.  Should I try some more?

Eh.  Why not?!?!?

Roarke and Daddy flew a kite

And had a race.

Cian loved the sand in his toes.

Roarke ran up to give me a hug.

Cian backed down a hill to get to the water.

Cian tracks

My boys. ♥

Oops!  A wave got them while I was trying to get a nice picture.  Don't worry, Mama stayed dry. ha ha!

Cian played in the sand some more. 

Daddy and Roarke took a walk.

Cian ate some more sand.

We tried to throw Roarke into the ocean....

but he kept coming back! :)

Best buds.

Happy Sunday everyone!

More To Share

I finished and sent off my Spicing Up the Kitchen swap package.  Hopefully my partner will receive it some time next week, but you never know with the post office!  I'm really happy with how this came out and I was sad to see it leave.

I also finished another quilt top, which I'm calling Child of the 80's because that's what the Remix line reminds me of!  I really love this fabric and I like how it's shaping up!  On the down side, this is my first half square triangle quilt and it was a massive pain in the backside keeping all the squares in the right order and oriented the correct way.  Major headache!  I love the look, but good grief!  It's so much more time consuming than squares!  This is yet another quilt I will be posting in my etsy shop once it's completed.

STUK Swap Progress

I've *almost* finished my Spicing Up The Kitchen swap package!  I have to sew the binding on this table runner and make another small gift and it will be headed to it's new home!

I'm pretty happy with the final result.  I sort of wish I would have appliqued the letters with black instead of pink, but I just couldn't bring myself to sew black thread on this sweet runner!  Also, I chose about 3 other fabrics for the binding, but I didn't have enough of any of them so I went with this Amy Butler print.  Again, not my top choice, but I think it looks sweet.  I hope my secret partner likes it!

I'm a Worker Bee!

Yep, I finished more projects!  Check them out:

I used the tutorial over at http://www.lucyandnorman.blogspot.com/ to make this baby quilt from the It's a Hoot line from Moda.  I love love love this fabric!!!!  I barely had a chance to post this on Facebook and Flickr before a high school friend of mine, Sara, bought it!  How freaking exciting!  She is a FABULOUS photographer and she'll be using my quilt in her shoots!  Check her out on her blog.  She's in the Nashville area if anyone is interested!  Right now she's hosting a contest on her Facebook page called All Because of Love and I was thinking about it on the way home from mailing her this quilt.  An idea struck me and I had to hurry up and sew!  This was the result:

Both of the prints I used were from Tula Pink's Parisville line.  I'm super happy with how it turned out and I'm glad I took the time to add the hand stitching.  Often I get so excited to be near the end of a project that I'm tempted to leave off details that were in the original plan.  Anywho!  I posted this to Facebook and Sara bought this too!  I feel so loved!  UPDATE:  I made a few more of these pillows and listed them in my shop.

Productivity

Apparently, I'm in a productive mood!  I managed to make these two items for my Make Mine Modern swap partner last night and today:

The pin cushion/notion holder/thread basket is from Oh Fransson's free tutorial.  Personally, if I were to make this again, I'd do the basket differently.  I'd interface the entire exterior and omit doing the ring that you fold over the top.  I'd find it much simpler to just stitch around the top and pull it through a gap in the lining.  Just my humble opinion.  Otherwise, it's a great little project.  The needle book was an experiment.  It came out ok, but I think I may tear out the top stitching and try to smooth out the circle a bit more.  I love that RSR fabric!  I hope my partner likes his/her projects so far.  I'm probably going to do one more (maybe two, I get carried away). 

I also finished cutting my It's a Hoot layer cake for my next quilt.  I will be copying Lucy and Norman's tutorial from a while ago.  I just love this line and the pattern she used was fab!

So Nonna won't be bored out of her mind reading about sewing, I'm including a picture of Stink Face doing his new trick--going down the stairs!

Market Bag Crazy and Diet Fail

So I went a little nuts making these.  The mermaid one I made for me and the rest I made for????  I guess they'll be good gifts to have on hand or maybe for a swap partner.  I don't know!  I need more, but the three others I made aren't exactly me--I like them, but I don't LOVE them like the mermaid one. 

On a sad note, I had an epic diet fail.  I'm trying not to consider it a fail since I only purchased with money I made from the sale of my Wonderland quilt, but still.....I shouldn't have bought them.  I really want more too!  I'm hoping some of my swap partners (Make Mine Modern, Spicing Up the Kitchen, Urban Home Goods) might use some of the Ruby Star Rising or Echino in my homemade items.  ;)  I love these lines!  I need more! 

Halfway Clean

I'm feeling pretty crappy today--it's that first day before you really get sick and you know what's coming.  I hate that.  I wasn't in a sewing mood, but I decided to clean up my space a little.  Here are the after pictures (the before pictures were so scary they didn't show up on film!)  I haven't cleaned up my sewing table/cutting table so that isn't pictured.





I'm crossing my fingers I magically get better tonight!

Shake My Bon-Bon!

Two awesome things happened today!  First off, I sold my Wonderland quilt on Etsy!  How freakin' cool!  No, my mom didn't buy it!  A very nice lady who saw it on Flickr bought it.  I was so surprised and excited!!!!  I now have money in my fabric fund.  Hubby says it's ok to spend my profits on more fabric--hooray, no guilt.....well, Angela will be disappointed when I fall off my fabric diet, but I'm too giddy to be ashamed!

Also, Cherie picked my blog for a Leibster Award!  The idea is that it is for blogs with "small" followings (less than 300), so it's been a fun week seeing all sorts of blogs that I wouldn't have ordinarily found.  So, to pass it on, here are 3 blogs I think are worth visiting:

Jules is awesome!  Check out her selvage quilt in progress--totally amazing! 


She also makes great kids clothes, blankets, and baby items that she sells on etsy.  As an added bonus, her husband writes a hilarious blog called Daddy Geek Boy. 

Lisa is in a virtual quilting bee of mine and she participates in a lot of the same swaps.  She was my mystery partner for Make Mine Modern the first round and made me a fantastic tote bag to put my beach blanket quilt in (our bee made the blocks).  She has an incredible crafting area--I'm so jealous!


Jenny is yet another of my crazy talented Flickr friends!  Check out this quilt
Need I say more?

I know I'm only supposed to do 3, but Beth is pretty great too!  She makes the MOST adorable baby shoes!!!! 
Check her out on etsy here:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/weepereas

2 of 3 Bee Blocks done

I finished the second of my three bee blocks this month.  Hmmm, I may have forgotten to share the first.  I'll post it later.  This one is for Kim in Twice Around the Block VQB.  She asked for squares and rectangles, but everything else was up to us.  I approached this improv style which was all well and good until I got to the end and was almost out of fabric!  Yipes!  Sometimes it's important to have a plan!  It worked out ok, but it finished at a strange 12.25" square.  She said for it be anywhere from 12-15" so I guess I made it.....barely.  I had meant for the two green pieces to line up on the right hand side there, but I miscalculated at the end.  Sigh.  Well, I'm happy with how the fish came out, especially the one at the top left.  She sent out so many pretty fabrics for these, I'm sure the final result will be awesome!

Another Quilt Complete!

I finished up my Wonderland quilt today!  Hooray!  It's now listed in my etsy shop.  This one went together quick and easy.  My only trouble was the back.  I wanted to use that butterfly print, but it's (obviously) a directional print......and the quilt is 48" wide.....so I had to piece the back......and I had to match those stinkin' butterflies.  Grrrrrr.  I'm so lazy.  I hate having to pay that close attention to the back! :)  It came out ok though, so I'm glad I took the time.