A Party and a Quilt

Sorry I've been away for a while... These last couple of weeks have been busy with lots of family birthday parties... including my son's 6th birthday! He decided on a Lego themed party. There are SO many ideas on Pinterest. Here are a couple of my favorite things that I made on my own.

I recycled some saved up Kiwi Crate boxes and made them into Lego brick party favor boxes. I had a couple of small shoe boxes that I recycled as well. By the way, my son and I love Kiwi Crate! He looks forward to all their fun projects every month! :)

I made a Lego brick bunting using primary colored cardstock, a circle punch, and 3-D foam stickers to make the studs. 

I also made a few large Lego bricks using some cardboard boxes and wrapping paper, as well as a Lego Minifigure photo prop. We also had many Lego activites, such as drawing minifigures, building the tallest tower, building and racing cars, making Lego bracelets, guess how many Lego candies, and a Lego pinata. Of course, we also had Lego cake. :) My son had a great time! 

Now back to quilting... ;) I finished this quilt today. A simple patchwork baby quilt using 2 charm packs of Posy by Aneela Hoey. I love the colors and the cute little pictures in this fabric collection! 

I did my usual meandering stipple all over for the machine quilting. 

I kept the back simple and used Kona Cotton in pink. I also used up the last 4 charm squares to make a little hexagon patchwork applique design, which I hand-sewed on the back of the quilt. 

I decided on a purple gingham for the binding. I love gingham! The quilt measures approximately 35" by 45". A good crib sized baby quilt! By the way, this one is up for sale in my shop as well. :)

Up next, Thanksgiving! My favorite!

What are you working on this week? 

A Party and a Quilt

Wall-E Birthday Party

Yesterday was my son's 3rd birthday! He has been majorly into Wall-E these last few months, so we decided to do a Wall-E themed party for him. When I looked in stores and online for Wall-E party supplies, I didn't have very much luck. It looks like most stores are discontinuing their Wall-E supplies. Fortunately, I was able to find some plates, napkins, and party favors at Birthday Mania. I ordered them in September, just in case they ran out before his birthday. They were all marked down too! Bonus! :)

I always like to make something a little special for the kids, and also plan a couple of activities. I found some cute printable Wall-E and Eve masks at this website, as well as some printable coloring pages for the kids.

For another activity, I had the kids create their own robots. I wrapped mini cereal boxes in aluminum foil, then had the kids use pipe cleaners for the arms and legs. They could use bottle caps for the eyes, or use some of these cute eyeball stickers (or both). I also had lots of extra stickers and markers (Sharpies are best for the foil) they could use for more buttons or just for decoration. They had a blast! :)

I also made a mini felt robot for each of the kids. I'm thinking of adding these new creations to my Etsy shop. ;)

Of course, I had to have something special for the birthday boy to wear. So, I made him a robot tie shirt, with a number 3 on the back. :)

He looked super cute, if I do say so myself!

My awesome sister helped me with this cake. I'm thinking she needs to hurry up and open her own bakery! It was chocolate cake with a banana pudding filling. We used graham cracker crumbs for the dirt and Tootsie Rolls for the rocks and blocks of trash. And, of course, my son's Wall-E and Eve toys were the perfect cake decorations!

Overall, I think it was a success, and a super fun day at the park! :)

Wall-E Birthday Party

Where Have I Been...?

Cutting...

...piecing...

...more piecing...

...making pillowcases...

...oh yeah, and being a soccer mama! :)

Where Have I Been...?

Back in Business...

Well, between my son, myself and my husband... we had been in the sick house for about 2 weeks! We are finally feeling much better and I'm back at my sewing machine. There were so many things I was planning on making in those past 2 weeks, but I just had to take it easy. It seems like every time I get sick, it's the worst ever! Anyone else feel like that? Man, this was a bad one! Anyways, I've re-opened my Etsy shop, but I'm still trying to add more stuff to it, while simultaneously working on a million other projects. I'm making some progress with some quilts. I've added another quilt to my to-do list before May. I'm being a little selfish, and I'm making a quilt to take with us to the beach! I saw this fabric and thought, "that just looks like it belongs on a beach somewhere". So, here's what I'm working on...

I just love this fabric! It is Whimsy by Pillow and Maxfield for Michael Miller Fabrics. I think the blue, green and white reminds me of pretty Mediterranean tiles near the water. I was originally just going to sew all the giant 9" squares together as a patchwork quilt, but then I bought a jelly roll of white and once I put it in between the "tiles", it just made all the colors pop out! I am so in love with this quilt so far! I only have a couple of rows done, but I am so excited to see the finished product!

I am also making progress on my sister's quilt top. Two rows done of this pretty fabric with the signature blocks. It should be really easy to piece together since they are also large blocks. Love it! :)

And, I've been cutting lots of squares...

...and rectangles...

I'm preparing for 3 more quilts that I'm going to make for May, June, and July. One of them, I can't show you because it is going to be a surprise for a certain someone who occasionally reads my blog. These other two are going to be gifts. The first set of cut squares is using Moda's "Love U" line of fabric. I will also be using the panel that goes with it, and probably just some simple patchwork around the panel. My sister requested one for her friend who is expecting. The second set of cut rectangles is for my sister, who kind of got to choose her fabric. I pretty much saw this fabric (Moda's Blush by Basic Grey), and thought of her. She loves brown with blues and pink. I'm planning on making a garden brick wall style quilt with this fabric.

Oh yeah...

...and I finally finished this one for my hubby. Boy am I sick of looking at this thing! He loves it, of course, even though it is a bit "girly". It keeps him warm when he sleeps, and that's what matters. He requested a fleece backing because he doesn't like the feel of plain cotton fabric on his skin. Picky, picky... :) So, I didn't use batting with this one. It would have been way too thick for him... and my sewing machine! It was pretty easy to finish. I just used a simple chocolate color fleece.

Can you believe I'm working on 5 quilts at the same time?! Am I crazy or what? I'm also working on something else for some very special kids. Will post about it soon! Have a great week, everyone!

Back in Business...

Projects...

Just wanted to share a couple of projects that I've finished or are works in progress...

The first was a child's apron for our friend's little girl. She just turned 5 and is really into helping her mom in the kitchen. I have never made an apron before, and didn't have a pattern, but I figured it shouldn't be too hard. I was so glad I had this fabric on hand. It's called "Farmer John's Marketplace" by Fabriquilt. I also used some scrap red and black fabric that I had on hand. I love the bright colors and how real the fruits and veggies look! I thought it would be the perfect fabric for an apron. And, since fruits and veggies make up a rainbow of colors, I thought it would be fun to make the fabric pieces into a rainbow design on the apron.

I also added a little personalized pocket in front and a small loop for a dish towel along the waist.

The back has some other scrap fabric of eggs, and I folded the bottom of the apron to make it a little shorter, but it can be easily let out later as she gets taller. I sewed some velcro on the top neck strap and left long straps for the back tie straps. Our friend loves the apron, even though it is still a little big (oops!), and she even wants me to make her a matching one! :)

I'm not sure why this photo won't rotate to vertical, but I guess you can just tip your head sideways... ;)

Here is my favorite block from the start of Quilt #4. As I had mentioned in earlier posts, this will be a wedding signature quilt for my step-sister and her new husband. I am still waiting on a couple more signatures, but I have sewed most of the blocks. I absolutely love that the person who signed this block also drew a pretty flower and winding "vines". It practically matches the fabric! I can't wait to piece all the blocks together for the quilt top! I am so happy to be working on a new quilt, and I just love this fabric too! I also love that these are really big blocks (13 inches each), so it will make it super easy to put together!

I have also been making some capes for little boys. So far, I've made one for my son and one for my nephew. My niece is having a princess party, but there will also be little boys (princes) there too! Since I helped my sister make some tutus for the girls, I thought the boys might enjoy wearing something special too.

They'll be more like superheroes, I guess, but I think they'll have fun with the capes. :)

I'm thinking of adding aprons and capes to my Etsy shop once I open it back up.

Projects...

Library Books

Here is our library book selection from the last week... actually we've had these for about 2 weeks, but just now posting... From top left to bottom right, we have All About Me: A Baby's Guide to Babies, Tumble Bumble by Felicia Bond, Tails Are Not for Pulling by Elizabeth Verdick, and This Little Chick by John Lawrence. My son loved all of these books! I figured he would like the All About Me book since it has pictures of real babies. He loves looking at real pictures! He also liked the cute pictures and rhyming story in Tumble Bumble. The pictures were also a hit in the other two books. This Little Chick was so cute because the chick went around to the other animals on the farm and started "speaking" like them (i.e., "moo-ing" like the cows). So, my son loved to make all the animal noises! I LOVE all the "Manners" books! My son has been a little rough on our very tolerant animals lately, so this was a good one for him to listen to. Luckily our Corgis don't have tails... but our cats do. Too bad there's not a "Don't Hit Your Pets" book. I guess that would fall under the Hands Are Not for Hitting book, huh? Oh, well... we are still trying to correct some of his behaviors as he is definitely in full "terrible twos" mode now. Mama needs patience... LOTS of it!

Anyways, we also "rented" some movies at the library too... for the hubby and me. :) Gotta love FREE stuff! I hope you all take advantage of your local libraries! They are so great!

Library Books

Farmer's Market Challenge

In case you hadn't noticed, I've been in a blog funk over the last few days. I've been having some health problems and I've been a little down and haven't felt like doing much of anything. Sorry, everyone.

But, nothing a trip to the farmer's market can't fix!

Here's my entry for the September Farmer's Market Challenge. For more information on the Farmer's Market Challenge, or to join in, visit Judy's blog at The Road to Here.

We went to a different farmer's market near our house on Tuesday. A nice little indoor one in Mesa, AZ. It was nice to go inside-- out of the heat! :) Notice the sign? "Chilies roasted daily!" Mmmm...

Here are some beautiful Hatch Green Chiles. I wanted to take some home, roast them, then stick them on a hamburger with some bacon and cheese. Hubby didn't feel like grilling in this heat. Maybe next time.

Look how ginormous these yams are! They must be the "real" type of yams... not just sweet potatoes!

Even the squashes were huge! My local supermarket has acorn squashes that are much smaller than these!

Here begins my usual search for delicious goodies... We found these Golden Caramel Corn Nuggets. They taste like caramel popcorn, but without the kernels getting stuck in your teeth. Think "cheese puffs" with caramel instead of cheese.

My favorite sections... jams, jellies, preserves, and butters.... Mmmm!

Not only are these jams and jellies cute... they're delicious! :)

Our yummy loot. Yep, we by-passed the produce and just got sweets! ;) Caramel corn nuggets, blueberry jam, jalapeno pepper jelly, and apple butter. Mmmm! The blueberry jam is to die for! Spread some cheesecake-flavored cream cheese on a graham cracker, top with blueberry jam... tastes just like a blueberry cheesecake! My new indulgence!

Farmer's Market Challenge

Tot School--Week 7

R is 22 months old.

We had a very busy week, so here are just a few pictures of some things my son did this week:

He started an art class and a science class this week. I was unable to get pics of his art class... Here are some pictures of activities from science class. He learned about cause and effect. This is a tub of sugar that they could "paint". He loved watching the designs he would make in the sugar. :) 

He loved this ball toy! Basically, you put a ball in one of the holes, and it goes down a tunnel to the bottom. This part of science class was the most enjoyable for him! 

This was also fun, and a creative idea too! An old coffee canister made into a put and take toy. He would push blocks or other small toys into the cut open lid! 

And, some pouring... A big tub full of rice puff cereal, old yogurt containers, and measuring cups. He loved pouring, but is not very skilled at scooping yet. 

He also had some fun with friends at a party on Saturday, and celebrating Labor Day on Monday. :)

Tot School--Week 7