oh the anticipation

I am so excited about the gift I am making right now. I am debating if I should even post this. I want to share, but I want to wait to so that I can share a finished product. This project I am making is a set of two of the same thing. Had the first come together as quickly as the second, I might be done. But alas, I grew hungry and tired of sewing and cutting (and pressing) and have a little more yet to do. So now I leave you wondering, and hopefully you will be as excited about my reveal as I am! tee-hee-hee

And since a post is no fun without a photo... here is my 2-year old nephew is the midst of eating a chocolate cupcake with red frosting last night. (went to an informal concert last night when I stopped sewing) And thanks to my husband for doing the dishes while I did my sewing.

Christmas gift making

This year I am making most of my Christmas gifts.

This pillow is for my brother. I used canvas drop cloth for the fabric and stitched on felt pieces. I plan on making a non-holiday pillow cover as well.
(this is under my lovely tree. You see my fabric piled up to the right)

Then, for all the nieces and nephews I have (which I need to use two hands to count), I am making matching pajama pants. I just need to have them all over at once so they know they all match!

These are 18 month old size (for a 2 year old) and the smallest ones I've made. (This pair isnt' finished btw) I have 3 more pairs cut and ready to sew waistbands and hems into.

I have more gifts I have been working on. I'll take a picture when I have the set ready to go. We are having a gift exchange this weekend. I hope my gift is considered "fight-worthy." I hear this group gets quite rowdy at these.

Like a kid on Christmas

I had some birthday money from just about 2 months ago, and have been wavering on what to get with it. I knew what I wanted. Some Terrain fabric by Kate Spain. I have been drooling over the colors since it came out. I love jewel tones and knew that I would make a personal wrap-myself-up-on-the-couch-quilt with it if I could. But it isn't cheap. I thought, maybe a fat quarter bundle! Even when they were on sale, it was way more than my $30 gift card. 

Fast forward a few weeks, and I think layer cake! I searched online and found one for $25 on etsy. With shipping costs, it was just what I had. WooHoo!

...

I got it in the mail last night, oh it is so beautiful. Beautiful maroon, hot pink, lovely shades of teal... aaah, love. I'm not a big a fan orange, but I might just have to use that too as it all coordinates so well. 

I can't wait to carve out some time to sew it all together. I am going to have to stop by the LQS to get some coordinating solids. I might just do some sashing with different colors in the cross part and a border. I am going to have to work out all the measurements and fabric variations to see what works best. Basically I am less concerned with the details of the quilt and more interested in showing off the fabric!
....
modabakeshop.com ideas:
What if I got solids for the back and made this 2x as big?
http://www.modabakeshop.com/2011/11/cathedral-window-baby-playmat.html

This looks like more work than my original idea, but I think it would be gorgeous. http://www.modabakeshop.com/2011/09/ruby-pearl-and-opal-quilt.html

Christmas fun

I have gotten a sewing bug. I enjoyed finishing up my last quilt so much that I have been ready to charge forward with more projects. Last night I decided to work on a Christmas coffee sleeve. I use my Java one nearly every day and thought it was time to go seasonal! So I whipped this one up:

I love the red and white and cute little snowmen!


I had used some leftover charm squares from a pillow I made last year. (and have used year long- shh) And I still had some squares left. I also came across the EZ dredsen ruler that I got a while ago, and so decided that I would try it out on my charms.

As I cut and laid them out I worried that I was not going to have enough to finish the circle. But I did! with 2 squares left. Last night I sewed the points and flipped them around, and today I pressed and pieced them all together. I don't care much for pressing, but the anticipation of seeing it complete made it worth it.

I love it! It is super cute, and I can't wait to make a pillow out of it so that I have two for Christmas. The picture is on the back of the first pillow.

I can see the finish line!

I am almost finished - finally. It seems like forever ago when I started this quilt. I just have to tack the binding down. I used a pattern by Natalia at Piece N Quilt.
This is my first free-motion quilting where I am had an idea of what I was doing. I did pebbles in the white area, Charger bolts in the yellow, and footballs around the border (some look deflated, but oh well). I also wrote the recipient's name into the border. It is a bit crooked as the quilt was really pulling against me.
(sorry for the upside down photos. I'm not sure I can rotate them in blogger.)

Baby Headband

I was curious to try making some yoyo's, so this weekend with some scraps I made this. It will be a headband for a one-year old. I haven't trimmed and finished it yet since I don't have a clue how big her head is. :) It is Breakfast at Tiffany's line from Fig Tree Quilts and just looks so sweet for a little girl. The larger brown yoyo I made by rounding out a charm square. The smaller ones are an inch and a quarter (if that).  I used a tutorial I found on pinterest to make them.

Breakfast

It has been a while since I made oatmeal. I'm not a huge fan, but I do like steel cut oats. Trader Joes has a quick cook version (ready in 8 minutes) but today I am making the traditional ones that take about 40 minutes. So here it is...

Well almost... like I said, they take 40 minutes. 

I'm excited. I have another recipe I want to make, but when I looked in the cupboard, I discovered what I thought was wheat berries was in reality, barley. Not exactly the same thing. So I figured the dried fruit and pecans could go into oatmeal instead. It is cold in my home this morning since we left the windows open overnight. It worked in cooling the place off and a hot breakfast sounds great.

I wanted dried cranberries, but I was at Costco and found this "Antioxidant Blend" of dried fruit instead. It has cranberries, blueberries, cherries and plums (previously known as prunes). I hope I like it!

Ooh, they're about done... be right back.

Mmm. Look at all those toppings. They look really nice all mixed in, but I'm using my phone for photos and it doesn't take good close ups.

One last thing- why would make breakfast that takes so long? Well besides that it is good for me, I make enough for a few days. The batch I made today makes 4 servings. It reheats well with just a little added water. I also like to mix in Trader Joes spiced apples (and a little sweetener since they have none) and that is enough extra moisture that it doesn't need water. I just make up little containers that I just have to pop into the microwave.