A Quick Visit

I made a quick visit to my brothers house with Holly and enjoyed my time there so much. I also got to visit my 92 yr old grandma, Busia as we call her in Polish, who asked if I could bring her chicken nuggets and fries from McDonalds. She is hilarious. There was a time she held the record for most Big Macs eaten. The story is told for future generations to admire! :) Right now she was content with chicken nuggets!!! While I was staying at my brother and my sweet sis in law's house I made curtains and a pillow for my niece's room to match the throw I had made her for her bday. I tell you I am in the right business because I was super excited to sew on my visit. My sis in law does sew, and shes really good at it, but its not a priority for her. I was glad to help her out! I used Amanda Fleur in aqua and Flower Mural in brown for the curtains. The pillow is also the Flower Mural. Sheri made the runner on the nightstand with the Flower Mural and a small strip of Marie in aqua in the middle. All fabrics by Jennifer Paganelli. I am sad that I only got a pic of Holly with 1 beautiful cousin as she has 2 more who were in the other room! I guess as usual I got overexcited to take the pic and forgot!

:(((((((

Bday Gifts Made with Love

These are the handmade gifts from my kids for my birthday! My daughter made the sachet filled with lavender from our garden. I am really proud of her sewing skills and use of wonder under. I keep this next to my bed to remind me of her and I can smell the lavender! My son is amazing with polymer clay and he made this pendant for me to match the fabric from Jennifer Paganelli- Loopy Vintage Turquoise. My daughter told him it was my favorite fabric! I have been wanting to make a summer skirt with the fabric, but always put stuff for me off. Now I have an incentive as I want to wear the coordinating necklace! :) I love these gifts so much and will always cherish them!!

Pajama Girl

I really love making pajamas. They are so quick and so much cuter than what I can buy! My daughter loves this aqua color by Jennifer Paganelli- Casey Scroll and Pinwheel Stripe. All of her friends get pajamas this year. I figure that if I cycle through I will get everyone- then I need to come up with something new next year. One of MY friends wants them- but in pants for her bday- so she will be easy this year!

My Favorite Colors

Aqua and fuschia are my favorite colors right now. I was itching to make a blanket with those- especially since I picked up a BUNCH of both fuschia and aqua minky. These fabrics- mostly Jennifer Paganelli- just sing! My daughter has tagged this as her favorite so far, but it seems that changes, too. I am grateful that she has the fabric bug at 11 and knows how to coordinate colors. I like to ask her opinion when posting colors and often she will say, "My favorite is this one, I don't like that one." I am making pajama shorts with applique tshirts as gifts for her friends' bdays and always have her pick the fabrics and coordinate. A sewer in training! :) I want to do a totally aqua patchwork blanket next.

Kids Summer Party Tutorial

Here is my first tutorial and it isn't even about sewing! However, had to include fabric in the pic because it matched! :) I have been thinking about how to label soda cans for my sons 14 party. We always end up with cans with no owners. This is no earth shattering idea, just a mom's way of organizing (and lets face it, make things cuter!) I hate to call it a tutorial because you can probably figure out how to do it by looking at it, but I thought it would be fun. I started to think that I could use these when kids come over and get a cup and forget whose is whose or even my own kids during the day. I always end up with lots of cups at the end of the day. I am at least trying to figure this problem out! Here's what you need: rubber bands, masking tape, sharpies. Write the name on the tape, fold on itself while attaching to the rubber band~ voila! You can see my learning curve- 'Holly' came out better than 'Dylan' because I neatly folded the end over! I had hoped to put photos in between words, but it wasn't working. I have more work to do to figure out this tutorial thingy!

Family Fun Day

We spent the other day in the park with some out of town friends at one of the best parks in the area. It has lots of grassy hills and old oak trees- like the one we are in! On the 4th we just stayed home and "got stuff done". My daughter is not a fireworks fan, so we are low key. The 5th felt more like a celebration being at the park after church, lounging on a blanket. We rarely stay still, so this was 'fun' for us! My friend has 5 kids including the cutest 6 month old. Her cheeks and thighs were so pudgy and cuddly- and I got to hold her almost the whole time. :) I really got my baby fix. I sure miss that age- their little personalities are coming out and they love being held. Lucky mama!

What To Do With 24 Fat Quarters?

I was given the challenge to create a patchwork diaper bag, blanket and burp cloths from 23 fat quarters a customer gave me. I was giddy for the opportunity. I added one fabric from my collection to make an even 24 using Amy Butler's Midwest Modern and Daisy Chain fabrics. I started off cutting 5 1/2" strips and sewed them in groups of 3. I then began placing them where needed. For the bag flap I actually used the scraps from cutting the ends off of the strip groups. I put light blue minky on the back of the patchwork blanket. I am so pleased with the way it all came out. The aquas and greens really glow! It will be so hard to mail this package out today! :)