Rainy Day Quilt and a Pirate Skirt

I was looking through some crafty websites and I found this quilt pattern that was just calling my name. Did I really need another project to add to my list? (I think I have craft ADD) Probably not, but I knew this one would not take too long to finish and I felt like my heart quilt needed to be changed. In one rainy day afternoon, while my Kaleb was sleeping, I worked on these projects.

I found the free pattern  here. It isn't quilted yet but I love the colors. Most of the fabric I used came from America. It was easy to put together. It is not perfect but I like it. I hope to have it finished by this weekend. (J is singing a rainy day song for you)

This was definitely on my project list. I had the sewing machine already out and Kaleb was still sleeping (for another ten minutes). The bandanas came from America this summer. That's how long I have wanted to make this pirate skirt. It was easy to do although I didn't have a t-shirt to cut up for the waist band. I used the left over sheet from Keke's Red Riding Hood cape that I made in October. The idea came from alphamom.com. I think she likes it but she is now asking for a pirate hat and sword.

It is pretty short, I should have made the waist band longer. She will probably only wear it for dress up or over some black leggings. It turned out cute and it IS in her favorite color.

Another Finished Project!

Sunday, I had a couple of hours with the kids. This gave me the opportunity to start and finish a project that I have been thinking about for awhile. We have tow IKEA chairs that I absolutely love but with Kaleb always climbing up in them when he was not necessarily clean, the cushions have become yucky. So, I finally found some fabric that I loved at IKEA - I broke down and bought it. I used my free hours to cover the chair cushions while watching The Three Musketeers. I like the way they turned out. I know the fabric is a little busy but I love the colors. Now, the covers are removable and washable. What's better than that?

The next project that I finished was my table runner for my buffet. It has been waiting to be finished for a couple of months, probably closer to a year. I finally sat down and sewed the binding on. That is all I needed to do to finish but it seems that sewing binding is tedious for me. I really have to make myself do it. And this project was so long, that it took quite a while to do that, through a movie and a half! But it is done. My project list to finish is still long and my bin is full, but I am working my way through it. One more down. Yay!

A Year of Finished Projects

I have officially declared this year - the year of finished projects. I have a a basket full of unfinished projects - quilts, crafts, etc... - that I will finish this year. It started with finishing the nativity at Christmas. Yeah, it was technically last year but I feel the need to finish all of the projects that I have been working on. So, I am sharing some finished projects so far. The silly thing is that these weren't projects in my project bin. I saw them and just had to try them out. So, I actually added to the project bin but I also finished them, so I am back where I started, right? Here are my finished projects so far....

I saw this quilt pattern here and I knew that I could make it without the pattern. It was easy enough and I used scraps of fabric that I already had so the project didn't cost me a thing. It doesn't look exactly like the original but it turned out okay. It is a smaller version and is now hanging in my hallway.

This was something I saw on another blog and it looked easy enough to finish in a day. I made the pattern 50% smaller than the original. It was a lot harder than expected but I perservered and finished it. I can't say that I will be doing this type of piecing again. I used my scraps, actually I used the scraps from the Hungry Caterpillar quilt that my mom made for J. I knew I wanted it to be bright but for some reason, most of my scraps are pink. (I know why, I made J a duvet cover and it seems all I have is pink.) This is small and it turned out cute. But it was a pain to make. Two finished projects down and ? to go. I also had time to start the binding on my table runner and stuff some animal toys for Kaleb. I had a busy day today. I hope I can keep it going....and finish all of my projects without adding too many more.

Crafty Lately?

Since the new addition to our family, I can honestly say that I haven't done too much with my crafts/quilting. But, now that the little one is sleeping better, I can sometimes eek out alittle craft time. These are the things I have been working on.

I bought this ornament tree at IKEA after Christmas for 1TL. I wasn't sure what I could do with it but I decided to put it on my buffet and add seasonal items that I made. For Valentine's Day, I had hearts hanging with pictures of my kids on them. I made these silly birds for Spring. They didn't take long and I think they turned out cute.

Here's a close up of the silly birds. I found the tutorial and pattern here. This is a great scrap project.

This has been on my project list for awhile now, thanks to my mom. J received two Barbies for Christmas and the clothes are soo expensive here. My mom brought 2 Barbie patterns and we went on an adventure looking for fabric for Barbie clothes. This is the second piece of clothing I have made for Barbie. I am spacing them out because they are time consuming and often a pain to sew. I found some tutorials online for Barbie clothes as well but then, I keep thinking it would be soo much easier to wait until we go to 'Merica (J's word) and buy them at a yard sale. You could technically sew these by hand which I do not have the patience for. J loved her dress and is already asking for a wedding dress. I am not sure who Barbie is going to marry, since we do not have Ken, ha ha. My older daughter said the dress was all most store quality. Thanks for the encouragement, honey. Here are some tutorials for Barbie clothes if you want to try them out yourself. You could scraps or cut up old clothes.

theadventuresofroryandjess She has several tutorials and she makes it look easy.

missbcouture I am awed at her creativity and jealous of the time she has to do this.

fromanigloo She made a dress for her daughter and a matching dress for Barbie.

mamaslittlecoffeebreak If you are looking for furniture to make....

embendesigns. More furniture and bed linens! Barbie definitely needs a decked out bed.

midcraftcrisis Barbie chairs because Barbie cannot sleep all day.

mypaperpony My ultimate favorite, a Barbie Museum of Art, she needs culture too. And you can change the paintings!

While my mom was here, I finished a mini quilt. All of the fabrics were found here in the country. The pattern was found here. I usually try to use free quilt patterns but I have subscribed to the digital version of Quilter's World and have loved it. I miss all of the craft magazines you can get while in the states but this way, I don't have to miss a quilt magazine. An awesome thing about subscribing to this magazine, you get the back issues as well! So you are not only getting the new year of magazines, you are getting a couple of years back issues. The digital version also has the patterns to print out. It may not be the same as pouring over a magazine in your hands but it still can be nice to see what's out there in the quilting world.

I bought these panels online and quilted them for the kids' room. I am going with an Eric Carle theme since we received this great quilt from my mom. She made a Hungry Caterpillar quilt for J's bed. These panels have characters from Eric Carle's books and they were quick to quilt. I found the panels at fat quarter shop .

I made a valance for the kids' room going with the Eric Carle theme and using fabric from his Brown Bear Fabric line. This was also purchased at the fat quarter shop. It is alittle more than I usually spend per yard but I really liked the colors and it went with J's quilt.

I can only show you part of this table runner as it is pretty long. This is a table runner that I am hand appliqueing for my buffet. The pattern came from Quilter's World in their archives. I wanted something bright and I added our family name at the top. I am sorry to say that all of the fabrics except the base piece are from America. This is going to take me awhile as I am sewing each piece individually and I seem to find other projects that just have to be done first. I love the colors and I will be happy when it is done, so it can cover the top of my buffet.

Now, this may look like alot but it isn't. These projects have been on going as well as slow going since the birth of my baby boy. He is now five months old and I am still working on some of the projects I started before he was born. Right now, though, my little birdies make me smile and being able to create something helps my sanity. I thought I had to give this part up when I moved here but I didn't. (It took a meeting with a wise lady at a Woman's Conference that I attended to show me that.) I am finally finding things I need and if I can't find them, I add them to my 'Merica list. I just recently found ready made bias quilt binding in all sorts of colors and patterns! I didn't even know they had that here. Most of the time, I make my own binding but it is nice to know that I can find it if I need it.

My hope is that this encourages you to create something whether for you, your kids, or family. Choose something that you enjoy and just do it. Have a great day!

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!

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.