Star Table Runner

 

I don't normally post twice in one day but, in honor of receiving my furniture Sunday, I thought I would share my latest project. We bought a great table, new to us, from a couple leaving the country. The table originally comes from IKEA, one of my favorite stores, and can seat ten comfortably when fully extended. It came with eight padded chairs. It is sturdy and, although it may have a few scratches, it is ours and I love it. Because of having a table, I was able to set up my sewing machine and work at it. We were also able to eat without having to sit on the floor. It is so nice having a table!

I wanted to make something that was bright and cheerful so I decided on a table runner. I saw one such table runner here and thought this would be an easy project to complete in a short amount of time. I had some fabric left over  from my bird quilt and decided to use that since I probably won't be making any trips to the fabric stores until our return. I had really wanted to machine quilt the runner but it was harder than I thought. I believe I will have to practice that method for a while before I actually use it on any of my projects. So I just quilted around the stars. It could have probably used more quilting but I really didn't want to take the time. On the back, I used strips of the fabric from the stars, hoping that it would be reversible if I wanted a change. But I didn't like how that turned out, so it will just stay a star table runner. I think it turned out cute and summery and I like the way it looks on my new-to-me IKEA table. I have plenty of space so those of you who would like to come to visit for some holiday dinner, we are ready :) (sorry about the wrinkles, I was in a hurry to take the picture because I was so happy it was done!)

Unbearable Heat

It has been unbearably hot here. I am, at the moment, jealous of those people who have air conditioning and long for the hot days in Florida where we had central heating/air. Here, we have what we call Klima which is a unit that is installed on the wall in one room. It is very expensive, which is why we do not have one. They do not have units that cool the whole apartment. Typically, one would put Klima in a main room and then camp there the whole summer. That is what I would do.

It has been hot. It seems like I wake up and, before I even start the day, my ankles are swollen. We are constantly running the fans and praying for rain. It seems that is the only way it cools down right now. One way we like to beat the heat is on our balcony. I have a large plastic bucket that I fill with cold water and give J her water toys. I lather her up with sunscreen, as we don't have any shade out there, and make her wear her hat and sun glasses. She loves to pour and splash about. It is not as nice as having a pool but it will do in a pinch. The only draw back is that the balcony is tiled and tends to get very slippery with all of the water she spills. She has started to wear her sandals because she doesn't like to fall either. 

Well, today, I woke to a rainy day with some cool breezes. I hope it stays awhile. We could use the rain. It tends to keep down the dirt and dust. It doesn't make for a water play day but it does make living alittle nicer. 

On Sunday, we received some furniture. We have been busy unpacking, cleaning and rearranging. I finally have a table and some chairs. So now I am able to hook up my sewing machine and work out some creative frustration. I am currently working on several projects. I had hoped to have them done by now but I still have to do every day things and haven't had too much time to work on them. But I will be posting them soon.

More Squares

I had posted before about J's duvet cover that I made and after I completed the cover, I had soo many squares left over that I wanted to do something else with them. So, I made a matching valance for J's window/balcony door. I didn't want the valance to be a traditional valance. I thought it would look better if it had a type of "V" design. I sewed them together, lined them, and added the strip for hanging them on the ceiling. We don't hang our curtains here on rods, at least most people don't. We have tracks that are attached to the ceilings, above the windows. The white curtains I picked up at Carrefour for 3 TL a piece. All I had to do was shorten them to fit the window. Over all, her room is coming together. All we need to add is a rug, baby crib and changing table. I believe we have decided to have the baby room with her for awhile. J is enjoying having her own room but she is willing to share it with her baby brother, at least for now. When he is born, that might be a different story!

Graduation Day

It seems like it just snuck up on me. Just yesterday, DS was a chubby baby who loved to eat and was always happy. And today, he is grown, graduating, and ready to start his new adventure, without us, going to college and studying music composition. Wow, where did the time go? I thought I could make it through the ceremony without crying but I didn't. It occurred to me how proud I was of him and how much I am going to miss him when he is in college. I knew this was coming but I didn't think I would feel this way until I had to leave him in the states. It is going to be harder that I thought. He is ready even though I am not.

Dancing Queen (ABBA music here)

Last night, my DS had his junior/senior dance and lucky for him, we all decided to go. Well, all of us except J who had a fellow kindergarten teacher watching her at home. The preparation for the dance took awhile as it was the first time that DD was able to go and we had to find a dress. Thanks to a local friend of ours, we were able to find a beautiful dress that wouldn't break the bank and looked awesome on her! We had another teacher come to do her hair and makeup. She looked great.

The dance began at 5 p.m. and it was A Night at the Oscars, complete with entertainment introducing the seniors on the red carpet. DS won an Allister (their version of an Oscar) for the best facial hair of the Senior class! (I am soo proud :) The kids had a blast and the parents did too. We actually got in there when they started to dance. They danced Thriller (we missed that dance), Scottish waltzes, Abba's Dancing Queen, and line dances. The pregnant lady (me) joined in the fun much to everyone's surprise. It was over way too soon, especially since many of the parents had just started to warm up. Thought you would enjoy some pics from the evening.

A Crown for a Princess

We were invited to a little girl's birthday party a couple of months ago. I was at a loss as to what to bring for a gift. The toys here can be alot of money and less quality than desired. I remembered that this little girl liked to dress up in fancy dresses and clothes, so I decided to make her a princess crown with a matching cape. I found the tutorial for the crown here - complete with a downloadable pattern! Just my speed. I used left over felt from my many other projects. Everything was machine stitched except for the design on the front.  I did not have any thick interfacing but I did use a purple felt that was thick enough to add some weight and stability to the crown. The back of the crown has elastic that I covered with a pretty floral print.

The project itself was easy, the hard part - convincing your 3 year old that it was a gift for someone other than her! She was sure that the crown and cape were hers, mommy always makes her cute things. But not this time! She asked me if she could borrow the crown for alittle bit then she would give it back. Needless to say, I did end up making her own crown and princess cape so she could play dress up as well. I hope to one day have a trunk of dress up clothes so she can be whatever she wants. What girl wouldn't want to be a princess?

Fly Away Home

J had asked me to make her a quilt for her toddler bed and, when I asked her what color she wanted, she of course said "pink!" So I promptly (well as promptly as I could becuase it seems nothing goes promptly here) went to the fabric shops and searched for all kinds of pink fabric. I will post about her duvet cover later but when I was done with it, I found I had way too much pink fabric left over. The duvet took alittle less than I expected, partly because I made it a duvet cover and not a quilt and also, I didn't want to have to make a second trip to the fabric stores looking for fabric I needed to buy again. So, I found several new projects that I could use the pink fabric for and began creating.

This is actually only my second patchwork type of quilt. I love to applique my wall hangings, to create a picture of sorts using fabric. But I saw  this tutorial on how to create easy pinwheel blocks and I knew I had to try it. I had enough square scraps from J's duvet cover that I didn't have to cut anymore squares, which made this project very appealing. I intentionally made this project small, thinking that I would give it to J for a doll quilt but I loved the outcome so no doll quilt!

 This mini quilt was easy to make and it didn't take long to quit since I was stitching in the ditch. I appliqued the words Fly Away Home because that's really what I wanted to do at the time of quilting this (as well as now). Living overseas, you miss your family and friends more and more each day, at least I do. It used to hang on my once china cabinet in my living room/salon but it is now awaiting a new place among my soon-to-be-arriving-furniture.

I didn't think that I would like making this mini pinwheel quilt because of the patchwork and precise sewing. If you look closely, you can see all of my mistakes, at least I can. I am, by no means, an expert sewer. I just keep plugging along, hoping the seams will match up and eventually-sometimes, things turn out for me. I did keep obsessing over my mistakes with ths quilt but I continued to remind myself that I am not perfect so why should my creations be? I hope that my quilts will leave a little bit of me behind when I am gone and that my family and friends will appreciate them as gifts of love.

Pond/Ice Play Mat

J, my youngest, has a great affection for animals. While in the states, I bought her several of those "animal tubes" from the toy store such as farm animals and zoo animals. She loves them. When we arrived here, I was searching the Internet for an easy project (as usual) and found a picture of a play mat that another mother made for her children. The idea was so cute and looked easy enough without a pattern. Sorry, I couldn't find the link again so, in respect of the original creator, I won't post the picture but I will share my pictures. I lucked out when shopping for fabric for some Christmas projects last year, I found some felt. I was told by some others living here that felt couldn't be found here so imagine my surprise. The felt can be alittle pricey at about 10 TL a meter but most projects can be made with half meter. I learned how to say "half meter" quickly and came home with several great colors. I drew a simple pattern of the play mat on paper and used to to trace around the brown felt for the pond. I sewed a light brown bank, blue water, and green lily pads. Now, the one way I changed the original idea is that I made it reversible. On the other side, I made an ice play mat for her penguins and polar animals. I also found a simple pattern for a cave and made caves for both sides of the play mat. By making it reversible, the stitches were hidden from view which gave it a clean look. I think it turned out cute and now J has a reversible play mat for her variety of animals. And I still had a good amount of felt left over for other projects which will be posted later. I guess I could have added a picture with the animals but I couldn't get them pried away from J's hands.