Please VOTE!

I made this little top for my daughter for Valentine's Day and entered it into a Valentines-Inspired Creations contest.  Can you please vote for me?  There's some fabric gift certificates for prizes, and I would love to win!

My entry is #7.  You just have to click on "like" under the picture.  THANK-YOU!

Here's the info about this Valentines-Inspired top:

I am not usually one to make outfits for my girls for themed holidays, but I had a Lamour honey bun laying around, and thought it would make a cute top for my little girl.

I took a couple shirts that she had outgrown, cut the white one short, and cut the sleeves off the pink one, and sewed a bunch of fabric strips together . . . and voila!  A cute little top that she absolutely loves!  

welcoming my new niece . . .

My new niece is expected to arrive anytime, and I finished up her baby quilt this week.  The fabrics are a Japanese line from SevenBerry and I used my diamond ruler to cut out the top.  The bright colours are more my sister-in-laws style, and I love that it's still girly.

For the backing, I used a super-soft fleece with Tinkerbell printed on it.  It should go well with her Tinkerbell-themed nursery.

And here's another 241 tote, it should make a handy diaper bag for shorter outings.  I think the colours suit my sister-in-laws style quite well, and it was fun making this pattern with a totally different look.

Linking up to Finish it up Friday, Sew & Tell Friday, and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

today I am . . .

Hoping to finish off some baby gifts for a new little niece (due to arrive any day) . . . waiting for some Bella solids to arrive in the mail so I can finish planning my king-size bed quilt . . . feeling like I'm finally settling into some new medication that's supposed to cure the fatique I've been struggling with for the past year . . . and enjoying my tea on my new mug rug (THANK-YOU Leslie).

Happy Heart Day

After making this little top for my youngest girl, I had some honeybun strips of L'Amour left over.  This little skirt used up 12 of them.  I added some lace for the hem, and some solid brown for the waistband with an elastic casing.  There's still 12 strips left in the honeybun, but my oldest daughter couldn't decide what she wanted made with them, so she'll have to wait till next year.  I'm off to pick up some chocolate . . . Happy Valentine's Day!

Linking up to {Sew} Modern Monday and Fabric Tuesday.

planning out a king-sized quilt . . .

I have been wanting to make a king-sized quilt for our bed for some time, and decided to make it my 'quilting goal' for 2012.  So far, these three prints will be included, and now I'm trying to decide on patterns.  I want to make a large focal block in the middle, but not sure if a lone-star is my style, or maybe a one-block swoon quilt like this one (but add some borders to make it bigger)?  I need to purchase a couple solids yet to go with these prints, I was thinking of grey and a dark green.  Does anybody else dream of quilt blocks and fabric combinations at night when they're planning a new quilt?

a diamond quilt . . .

A little niece is on the way, and so I cut into this stack of fat quarters this week.  My 'diamond is a girls best friend' ruler made for some quick cutting (great price at JoAnn's with their coupon).  And the piecing got done while my little guy napped yesterday.

The fabric was at a local quilt shop and it's a Japanese line from a company called Sevenberry,  I haven't been able to find it anywhere online.  They had a sample quilt done up with it in their shop and it was so vibrant, and had such a nice feel to it, that I knew it would make a great little quilt.  I'm off to the fabric store today to pick out some backing.

Linking up to {Sew} Modern Monday and Fabric Tuesday.

a Valentine's Day outfit . . .

I am not usually one to make outfits for my girls for themed holidays, but I had a Lamour honey bun laying around, and thought it would make a cute top for my little girl.

I took a couple shirts that she had outgrown, cut the white one short, and cut the sleeves off the pink one, and sewed a bunch of fabric strips together . . . and voila!  A cute little top that she absolutely loves!  I still have over half of the honey bun left over and eleven days to figure out what else to make with it . . .

And here's another little tote for a birthday girl today.  The fabric is a retired line called Sunwashed by Sweetwater.

Linking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Finish it Up Friday, and Sew & Tell Friday.

a couple finishes for January . . .

This lap-sized quilt is a surprise for a friend of mine . . . I won't tell you which one in case she reads my blog.  The pattern is a free online tutorial called Giant Vintage Star from In Color Order.  I did simple straight line quilting on either side of the ditch, which gives a nice design to the back of the quilt too.

The fabrics are a mix of Kumari Garden (which I won from a giveaway from Swell Cloth) and a mix of some other coordinating prints (which I picked out with a gift certificate I won from Modern Fabric Studio).  The batting is the new Eco-Cotton blend from Pellon which was given to me to review a while back.  And the backing is a Mar Bella minky from Fabric.com (I had actually bought it for a different quilt, but ended up making that quilt too large for the piece I ordered).  So in all, this was an almost-free quilt, just the backing was purchased by me (but it was in need of a project anyways).

And my second finish is this quick little table-topper for myself.  The fabric line is from Moda called Arcadia, and the honeybun was a giveaway prize from the SewMamaSew Giveaway Day in December.

Linking up to {Sew} Modern Monday and Fabric Tuesday.

a couple more bag finishes . . .

This is another 241 Tote, but the first one that I made for myself!  I also tried the zipper pockets this time, and they were seriously the easiest zippers I've ever done.  I have plans to make one more of these bags for my sister-in-law to use as a small diaper bag.  I'll make it with the outside pockets and zipper pockets so she'll have lots of places to put all the 'stuff' that comes along with toting a little one around.

I put in a key-chain holder this time too, so handy!  And the strap is extra-long so I could wear it cross-body for all the shopping we did on our vacation, I didn't want to run the risk putting it down and forgetting my ID somewhere.

And this is another bag for a little girl's birthday that one of my daughters went to.  The pattern is a smaller version of the Tie Front Tote.

And this bag also uses up the last of my bigger pieces of Feeling Groovy from Riley Blake.  I bought 12 half yard cuts back in August, and have made 6 little bags for birthday presents, some notebook holders and tissue pouches, and the wall decor and wall pockets for my daughters room.

All I have left are some scraps of these fabrics now, and I'm debating whether or not to buy some more from the fabric line.  I love how fun and girly it is, but not too 'young' for my almost 9-year old.  So I'd love some suggestions for another fabric line that would work well, or if someone sees a half-yard bundle of Feeling Groovy at some really good clearance pricing, I probably won't be able to pass it up :)

Linking up to Sew & Tell Friday and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

WIP Wednesday . . .

So the rain has started and the snow is melting.  My two oldest girls missed school on Monday because of water damage in their school, but are back again now.  The house is a lot quieter with just two little ones running around.  It seems that an unexpected week of all the kids home showed me how much extra toys and 'stuff' we have around here, and has compelled me to do a lot of sorting and purging this week.  But I did get a little bit of sewing time in, and played with this honeybun . . .

And made a new table topper for my kitchen table.  I still have to quilt and bind it, and I'm looking forward to the update from my old one.  Hope you're all having a lovely week!

working on a new quilt . . .

We've had a LOT of snow in our neck of the woods this week resulting in our kids' school being closed ALL WEEK.  Which means we've had lots of sleeping in, pajama days, colouring, paper-crafts, and playing in the white stuff.  It's definitely a nice way to ease back into things after our little vacation.  And to top it off, I got this lap quilt cut, pieced, and basted.  I'd say that makes for a pretty great week :)

Linking up to Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Finish it Up Friday, and Sew & Tell Friday.

and the winners are . . .

The winners of the Bespoken fat quarter bundles sponsored by the Fat Quarter Shop are . . .

Congratulations to supersara20
 and Happy Cottage Quilter!

I'll email you for your mailing info.

And thanks to everyone for answering my question!  

I started cutting a new quilt today and have another 241 tote to show you that went all the way to the Caribbean and back - I'll have to shake out the sand for a couple pics. :)

trying to decompress . . .

After spending a week on gorgeous beaches, being fed amazing 5-course meals every night, and being totally spoiled for my birthday, we are home again.  After a missed flight, an unexpected extra night in a hotel, and picking up our four kids from all over town today, we are FINALLY home.

But the snow and freezing temperatures are going to take some getting used to after being in this weather for a week . . .

I'll be picking the giveaway winner sometime tomorrow, because right now I still feel like I'm bobbing in an airplane . . . goodnight!

It's my Birthday! Time for a GIVEAWAY!

It's that time of year again ~ I'm turning another year older!  Only this year, I'm taking the whole week off and spending time eating out, getting pampered, and even taking off with my hubby and no kids for a few nights!  

So what better way to celebrate on my blog than with a giveaway?!  And with the help of my wonderful sponsor, the Fat Quarter Shop, here's what's up for grabs:

Not one, but TWO fat quarter bundles of Patricia Bravo's Bespoken fabric line.

 One winner will get the Lush colorway:

and the other winner will get the Fresh colorway:

So how do you enter?

• I love to quilt and sew, (I sometimes think it's the glue that holds this stay-at-home-mama together).  Tell me what you want to see more of in 2012 - quilts?  childrens clothing?  accessories?  bags/purses? something else?
• If you are a follower (new or old), you can leave a second comment.
• If you blog about this giveaway, you can leave a third comment with the link.

Winner will be picked by random.org on January 16th.  Open internationally.  Good luck!

Sweet Pea Totes ~ Hobo Bag

This is another pattern from Sweet Pea Totes that can be purchased as a PDF EBook or through Simplicity as a printed pattern.

I used one of the built-in embroidery stitches on my machine for the handle, and my oldest daughter gave it as a birthday gift to one of her friends.

There is a second pattern for a wristlet clutch included in the Simplicity pattern, and I made one without the ruffle.  It made for a very quick project.

Fiona's Fancy Accessories . . .

A little while back, I mentioned the accessory panels from Lila Tueller's Fiona's Fancy line.   There are three colour choices available in laminate or cotton, and each panel makes two cosmetic pouches and a sunglasses case.

I ordered a panel and sewed some up this past weekend.  The pouches are a nice update from what I'd been using, and the sunglasses case is the perfect size for my Epipen (and my two year old can't figure out how to open it).

There's a video tutorial for this set that can be found here.

Linking up to Manic Monday, Take-A-Look Tuesday, and Fabric Tuesday.

the rest of my Christmas gift sewing . . .

My kids picked names with my nieces/nephews for Christmas this year, which meant that we had four gifts to bring.  So to save some $$, the kids came to the craft room with me and picked through my fabric and decided on what I should make.

For my 2 year old niece and 18 month nephew, we decided on backpacks.  Now they can carry their own stuff around instead of my sisters needing to take a diaper bag along.  The pattern is from Oliver+S Little Things To Sew, and the one that I made for my little guy has been getting lots of use around here.

For my 5 year old niece, we decided on an apron (no photo) and a Tinkerbell tissue pouch/notebook holder set.

And for my 10 year old niece, she had requested a cross-body purse and it was also my chance to try out a pattern from my new Sew Serendipity Bags book that I won on the ZiaMariaDesigns blog.

Then the night before gift opening, I found the time to make a quick pair of matching pyjamas for my two oldest girls.  I had won these two yards of Fly Away fabric on the Red Fish Circle blog a little while back (fabric line to be released Feb 2012), and it was just enough for two pairs of pyjama pants and some appliqué circles on some purchased shirts.  And I'm happy to say that these have been worn every night since :)

And that concludes my 2011 Christmas sewing.  I enjoyed taking the time thinking about each recipient and creating something just for them.