Another post from my wonderful Mom! She cross stitched/embroidered pillow cases for Alice to go with her quilt. The edge was raw and we found matching ribbon in my ribbon stash. I’m not sure if you can tell on the picture but the ribbon background is brown and the flowers are pink and orange – perfect match! I finished one of the edges last week and then the second one over the weekend. It wasn’t too hard once I managed to coax my sewing machine into sewing longer stitches.
When my Mom came to visit she brought the kids quilts she made for them. I’m not sure when she started collecting the fabric for them but she collected various flower fabrics for Alice’s quilt and ocean fabrics for Jake’s. She got them done and quilted and they are now here and the kids have been using them every day.
Alice’s Flower Quilt
Jake’s Ocean Quilt
I kind of went crazy with the watermarks, but that’s okay! Aren’t they beautiful? My Mom is so talented!
Mom has only visited a couple of times but whenever she does I end up with projects to finish or start. Way back when I was pregnant with Alice I discovered ebay and their craft/sewing section. Before I realized what I was doing (hahaha) I bought a bunch of already cut material. All these years later, I’ve only ever used a few of them a few years ago for pillows for my Dad. This visit Mom encouraged me to get them out and make something with them and I found four packets of 2inch squares. They were a rainbow of colors and I thought a spiral pattern would look cool.
Here is the squares laid out and then one square already done. I have a large piece of white felt hung up on the wall to layout material – I’m not sure where I read about that tip but it is a great one. The only reason there are pins in the top left row is because I hadn’t ironed down the seams and the fan was on so it kept falling off, otherwise material stays on there so well.
Can you see the spiral? Start at the top left corner and then go! I have extra squares that I took out of the layout and will probably use them as a border of sorts. I’m not sure what I am going to make but I felt so good getting back into sewing. It didn’t take too long to make these two squares and I am hoping to get the other two done today. Mom is coming back next week and I am going to have her help me figure out border material and how to put it together. Since they are 2 inch squares the end result is 1 1/2 inches and then all together that is what, 7 1/2 inches square? That’s not too big. I probably won’t make a blanket but maybe a wall hanging for the craft room? I haven’t decided.
I have these same squares in 1 1/2 inch size but I’m really not sure what to do with them. Maybe I can use them as a border as well?
I feel very spoiled.
Because of the layout of the house we turned one of the bedrooms into an office (which really is just a desk since we got the laptop a few months ago) and my sewing/craft/homeschool room. Which is more to say it is a very pretty, nicely organized storage area. I have all of this space available to me and I am not using it the best that I can!
I decided to change that today. I started cleaning off the sewing desk so I could sew a few things. I need to work on a rag quilt that I’ve had the material for, for YEARS…like three or four. I also want to make Alice a few easy dresses for the fall. And I have so many other projects in mind!
So I took all of the baskets and stuff piled on the desk and sorted it out. It was good timing as the electricity picked that moment to go out for about a half hour or so. The kids played checkers and cards while I sorted screws, beads, finished projects and Chris’ uniform items. Once that was done, I had three empty baskets! I’m sure they’ll be used very soon though.
Tomorrow I am going to move my pictures and prints (they are stacked up next to the sewing area) and get the two huge boxes of material out and see what I have. I’m sure I have plenty and could make more then a few dresses. I’m excited! I have a designated area for my stamping and card making and really need to use our space better. We are lucky to have a house this big and I doubt it’ll happen again for a very long time, might as well take advantage while we can!
Of course this helps get the home school stuff situated – it’s just about that time you know.
My Mom sent us a sock puppet kit for Christmas last year and we made one and then never got around to making the other. It wasn’t too hard to figure out though I remember it taking a little while. So here is Fluffy! You can’t see but he also has a belly button because, duh, everyone has a belly button! He has mismatched eyes too but they are the same size, which I guess was more important to Alice then them matching colors! You were supposed to cut a tie and put that coming out of the top of his head but the only ties we have are ones that Chris just bought and there was no way we were cutting them up – so it is a ribbon. The ribbon kind of hangs in Fluffy’s face, but he doesn’t mind. It distracts from him not smiling I think.
Most of the time Alice or Jake sleeps with him, or he has a special place on Alice’s bookcase. Now there is a gift that she still loves too, Fluffy. She wants to make more but we just haven’t. Maybe we’ll do that this weekend, Fluffy does need a friend.
