Littlest Mermaid

The mermaid quilt and its tiny recipient.

I think it will be awhile before she outgrows it.

Dressy Lady

Leanne was nice enough to model the two t-shirt dresses I finished for her yesterday.
 
She picked out the fabric for this Sofia dress
 
but she hadn't seen this t-shirt or fabric yet.
 
Leanne's definitely the shoe-craziest of my grand-girls, so the shirt is perfect for her. "A princess must have shoes!"
 
We also worked on her bathing suit cover-up, adding beads to one of the tie dye shirts she made last week.
 
I thought she could do the beading herself, with me just tying the knots afterward, but that was a no-go.
 
Twisting the fabric, pushing the bead on, and then pulling the tail through was just a bit too complicated for her 4-year-old fingers.
 
I was undecided about adding beads to the sleeves, but after looking at these pics, I think that's a must-do. Guess I know what I'll be working on tonight.

Fabric Bowls, Indigo Version

Finished the second bowl last night and gifted it today. 
 
The fabric is from my Craftcation indigo class, taught by Kaari from French General. Enjoyed the class and loved the fabric, so I wanted to use it for something special. I was afraid the color might run, so turning it into a bowl rather than a quilt seemed the better idea. 
  
Both bowls were made according to the original pattern* I learned in class at Quilt Ventura and used the template hubby made for me. The 'firecracker' bowl now lives at Vickie's house.
 
This one stayed with me. 
 
It has a couple of silly mistakes and "learning experiences" (like forgetting to stitch the bottom panel on and trim the fabric before doing the satin stitch) but I love it anyway.
 
Quilt Ventura is planning to offer a new fabric "vase" class, like the ones in this book, and I Can.Not.WAIT! 


Note to me: first bowl darts alternate cut depth of 2" then 3.5". Second bowl cut all 2" darts.

Tour de Sewing

It's Tour de France Fleece time again, but I just can't muster any interest in spinning this year. Instead, my goal is to sew/quilt each day the riders are on their bikes. Saturday was finishing up the mermaid quilt; Sunday was working on another set of bowls (pics tomorrow).  

Yesterday I started 8 more pillowcases,
  Surfboards for hubby; trucks for Travis.

some from kits I bought a few years ago; 
 Laurel Birch birds for me; penguins for . . . . I don't know yet.
 
 others from fabric I bought especially for this project.
 Matching pink and purple flowers for guests.

Today I finished them up, French seams and all.
 
This set is for Gary, a die-hard Kings fan. It's difficult to find something craft-related that the boys in the family will like, so I was pleased when I found this fabric. And he was pleased when he received them today. That makes it a win-win, so yay me!  

Independence Baby

Marie's bestie from high school had her baby yesterday (that's what all the fireworks were for, right? Celebrating Twila's arrival?) so the project I've been working on for the past week became a bit more urgent. 
 
I knew where this quilt was going from the minute I saw the mermaid panel on our Row by Row shopping excursion.
  
The dragonfly backing fabric and batting were in my stash - I had exactly the right amount for this project (to the inch on the batting).
 
I finished the quilting yesterday just in time for fireworks, 
I couldn't bring myself to quilt through the mer-creatures, so the stitching stops and re-starts around them.

then trimmed it up and attached the binding before tossing it in the washer about midnight. 
 
I definitely need more practice on the final quilting, but I think this turned out pretty cute. Hope Twila has years of fun with her new mer-friends.

Size pre-wash: 51.25 x 38.25
Size post-wash: 48 x 36.25

Happy Birthday, America!

We celebrated the holiday* with patriotic toes -
 
patriotic Leanne - 
 
and Mommy and daughter, ready for fireworks -
 

But no fireworks pics - all my shots got corrupted between my camera and the computer. Oh well, happy birthday America! 

*We also watched the new Terminator movie, which was surprisingly good. I love an action movie with a sense of humor. Good job, "Pops"!

Tie Dye Day

Found a squirt gun tie dye idea on Skip To My Lou and had to try it. (We used Tulip tie dye rather than Kool-Aid.)
  
Leanne and I went to the dollar store Tuesday and purchased a selection of squirt guns,
  
along with some spray bottles - just in case. 
 
Turns out "just in case" was a good idea. 
 
The girls loved using the squirt guns,
 
but they ran out of "ammo" quickly and 3 of the 5 guns jammed and were out of commission before we ran out of dye.
 
We dyed 4 t-shirts - 2 each for the girls to turn into beaded swim suit cover-ups on our next craft day -
 
2 "super hero" capes*, 
 
a cotton shirt for me, and two old bedsheets that have a lot of use left in them but were looking a bit dingy. 
 

As you can tell from Leanne's shirt, we've done tie dye before. So I know - or should have known - to put gloves on before mixing the dye.  
But where's the fun in that??? **
 

*Super Hero cape = one XXLong men's sleeveless t-shirt cut in half at the shoulder seams and the sides, with ribbons sewn on at the shoulders. The idea is to thread the ties from the neck, out through the sleeves and tie it together on their back rather than around their necks. I think it will work, but Leanne wasn't willing to let me try it today.

** Palmolive dish soap and salt got my hands clean(ish)! Playing in the bathtub a couple of times took the dye off Leanne's foot.  

A Day With Monkey

Leia stayed with us overnight Sunday, so Monday was a "catch-up" day - doing all the fun, crafty things that await at grandma's house.
 
We made cookies - 
 
Shopped for shoes ($3 thrift store find) - 
 
Made Leia's favorite "yucky stuff" - 
 
with all the spices in the pantry, while she carried on a constant cooking show-type monologue.
 
And finished up with dinner with Daddy.  Fortunately, he didn't have to eat the "yucky stuff".
 
Happy Monkey. Happy Grandma.

Bruges Crochet Scarf

This one has been done for awhile, just waiting to be blocked.
  
The yarn is Knitted Wit's Cashy - merino, cashmere and nylon - and it is luscious, especially once it's blocked. So light and airy!
 
After a bit of trial and error, I figured out a way to join the two ends in pattern to form an infinity cowl. Yay, me! Now I just need to remember how I did it when it comes time to write the pattern.
 
I'm teaching this as a class in late July 
 
and I've already started another Bruges project, this time a triangle shawl using a slightly different method for the curves. Lovin' the Bruges!