A Family Tree...of sorts

Once upon a time my friend Sharon and I went fabric shopping and both my little girls were tagging along with us as usual.  Josie, my oldest, was 8 at the time and she wanted to choose a pattern and some fabric for a quilt for me to make her.  Sure, I said, go right ahead, let's find something good.  There was a sample quilt hanging on the wall of this quilt and once she saw it there was no swaying her decision. I never expected her to choose "Lilly Pilly" by the oh so talented Australian quilter Kellie Wufsohn of Don't Look now! but now I am so glad she did.  I absolutely love this quilt!

I began collecting Kaffe Fassett fat quarters like crazy and then I got quite intimidated by the number of leaves that needed to be cut and appliqued so I kind of laid the project aside for...a year.

Then in the spring of 2012 we took a trip to VA to visit The Grandmomma (Deb, my MIL) and I took the pattern and all my fabrics with me.  Genius!  Deb and her friend Melissa helped me get all the leaves cut out and ready to be appliqued.  If it weren't for their help this quilt would probably still be waiting to be worked on!

Josie's little hands and foot.

Some more time passed before I got all the leaves sewn on but I finally finished it and sent it back up to The Grandmomma for her to do her magic with quilting it.  I think she did an outstanding job and couldn't be happier with it! Best of all, Josie LOVES it!  She wants to sleep with it but I just can't let her.  She's going to have to let this one be a wall quilt.

The four little birds represent each person in our family.  The red bird on the right is John, then my bird is above him, and Josie is the bird on the bottom left and Carly is on the top left.

Love!

So here it is and Josie is 10 now...boy how time flies!

Have a great day!

Chevron baby quilt

I am so in love with this quilt.  It's just a simple baby quilt but I think it's just too precious!  I used some aqua Riley Blake chevrons and appliqued the red words on there.  I just love the aqua and red color combination.  I got the idea for this quilt from the tutorial by V and Co. on the Moda Bake Shop website.

I had fun taking these pictures in my little town.  The people driving by probably thought I was crazy.

Have a great day!

Tote bags

I haven't had much time for sewing lately but I did manage to make a few tote bags.  A friend of mine was going on spring break with 3 boys and the road trip was 6 hours so she wanted an activity bag for each of them.  I found this easy tutorial by Angie at http://www.stitchingbystarlight.com/2012/06/box-bottom-tote-tutorial.html and changed it up just a little to suit my needs.  

I tried to make the font look like graffiti so the boys would like the bags.  Camouflage is always safe for boys so this worked out great.  The bags are big enough to hold an iPad, some books, and any other necessities they need for the road trip.

I am happy with the way they turned out.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of the third one I made but it's the same thing with a different name on it. 

Have a great day!

Cute quilt, Cuter baby

My friend Sharon's granddaughter, Aubree, turned 1 this month so she needed a new "big girl" quilt.  Sharon and I went to Intown Quilters and found a cute little girly Dr. Seuss panel so we cut it up and added some borders to it and came up with this adorable little quilt.  I made the top and she did all the rest.  I got the better end of that deal for sure!

Isn't Aubree precious?  Her mom is a Pre-K teacher and loves Dr. Seuss so this fabric suited them perfectly.

She's playing with all her new birthday toys.

Enjoy your quilt precious!

Bloglovin'

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Well, since Google reader is shutting down in July, I am switching over to Bloglovin' to read my way too many blogs that I follow. I managed to get my blogs transferred over and I really like it so far...but in order to "claim my blog" I have to add a link to my post which I think is kind of weird but whatever.

Show and Tell Tuesday

Well, I'm a little late to the Scrappy Trip Along party but I finally finished my quilt top.  I love it!  I can't wait to get it quilted and snuggle up under it.  I am pretty sure this will not be the last of my scrappy trip along quilts, I loved seeing how each block would turn out.  When I first started sewing the strips together I was having a hard time just randomly sewing the strips together (I really wanted each strip to match but that isn't what would make this quilt pop) so I got my 9 & 7 year old girls to help me choose the strips and I have to say they did a great job not matching anything. Ha!  I did position the dark strip in the same place in each block and I really like how it turned out.

 My latest sewing adventure has been branching out from quilts and into sewing little skirts.  A lady, Sherry Whitman, from my church visits El Salvador multiple times each year doing missions and she came to talk to the GAs (Girls in Action) class that I teach and told us about how poor the families are and how badly they need clothing.  As I was sitting there listening to her I remembered reading on Randi's blog about her Sewing Seeds project and I feel like God placed it on my heart to sew skirts for Sherry to take on her next trip to El Salvador. I told my friend Sharon about it and she immediately made the two green skirts in the picture and just last night I made the pink and purple ones.  I definitely have a lot more to learn about making clothing but it was way easier than I thought it would be. I followed this tutorial on the dana-Made-it blog and it really was simple to make.

I don't know how many skirts I will make but I however many I make I pray they will go where they are needed most.

I am linking up with Randi's show and tell Tuesday...it's a great way to see what other people are working on.

Baby Ethan's quilt

I whipped up this little baby quilt over the weekend.  A co-worker of mine asked me to make a quilt for her grandson, Ethan. 

I used some Riley Blake chevrons and added some Kona chartreuse and navy for the accent colors.

I love the color combination and especially the way his named turned out.  So cute!

I quilted it very lightly so it would still be soft and snuggly for the baby and mom.

I am praying for baby Ethan every day.  His parents found out last week that he has a birth defect called anencephaly and isn't expected to survive.  Please pray for Ethan and all of his family, God is in the business of making miracles!