Things that go

My LQS had their anniversary sale last weekend, so I broke my self-imposed buying ban to get these fun firetruck, tractor, and airplane fabrics. I'm thinking that once we move to our new home, I want to decorate the Monkey's room with a "things that go" theme, and these will be great for the quilt for his big-boy bed. Already, he's been playing with all the fabric (can't you tell? That's why it's so wrinkled!), so I'm thinking this was a good idea. Will have to keep my eyes open for the right patter for these. I'm thinking simple, so it doesn't look busy. Any suggestions?

Today

Today has been a little bit of a blur. The Monkey had a difficult night last night, which hasn't happened in months, so we are all dragging in our house. Thankfully, he's in bed now, and will hopefully stay there til 7 am tomorrow morning!

Usually, I am off sewing around this time, while my husband tucks the Monkey into bed. But not tonight... My sewing machine has been put away, the floor has been swept free of those pesky threads, and all fabric has been folded and put away because my Mom is coming to visit! So no sewing for me for the next week or so, which is just fine because we'll be having too much fun to sew anyway.

I had thought she arrived tomorrow (thank goodness I double checked her itinerary last night just in case because can you imagine how awful if she'd arrived tonight and no one had been there to pick her up?!), and had planned to finish up the 2nd round of the March project tonight. Since it doesn't look like that's going to happen, I'll have to post it once she leaves next week.

Instead of working on my March project, as I should have been, I decided I wanted to join Rachel's (from p.s. i quilt) Pinwheel Sampler Quilt Along, and am so glad I did. This is only my 2nd time working with half square triangles, and definitely my first time putting together such complex blocks!

It has forced me to really work on using accurate 1/4" seams and to work on my rotary cutting (both of which were mediocre, at best... but when you're making up the pattern as you go, it doesn't matter much!). I went to get a 1/4" piecing foot for my machine a few days ago, and you wouldn't believe what a difference it's made. The seam ripper stays in my sewing bag a lot more now!

When I decided to join in on the quilt along, I also decided I absolutely didn't want to go out and have to buy fabric for this. Thankfully, I had purchased a Woodland Bloom layer cake that I had no idea what I'd use for, so this is what it's becoming. :) I paired it with some white kona cotton, which I think really lets the colors pop... not that you can tell in these awful photos, because they were taken at night...

Anyway, I'm off -- have a great night!

Love this quilt

When the Monkey was born, we lived in a very small 2-bedroom apartment and my plans for nursery decor didn't go too far beyond putting up a few animal prints. I had fallen in love with these adorable eBoo bird cards, which seemed like the perfect theme for a gender neutral nursery. My Mom, who is incredibly creative, used one of the cards as inspiration for this gorgeous quilt she made (her first!!). The center panel applique is of my absolute favorite birds in the card set.

I was thinking last night that when the Monkey was born, I had no idea how much a part of our every day life this quilt would become. Before the Monkey learned to walk, it was constantly on our living room floor, as his designated play space. It was the place where he did his tummy time, and the place where we'd try to take naps together when nothing else worked.

Once he started crawling, we'd still use it in the living room, but it no longer stayed in one place all day. Instead, it became his favorite peek-a-boo blanket and a favorite place to read books.

Then summer came, and the quilt followed us from park to park as we soaked up some sun and played out on the grass. Once he started walking, we spent less and less time sitting on the quilt, as the Monkey preferred to run and swing and slide. The quilt has lived in our linen closet since then.

And then yesterday afternoon after a fun day in the sun, the quilt made an appearance again. This time, it became the roof of his first fort. It makes me so happy to see the quilt out again, and even happier to see him so engaged in pretend play.

His favorite fort game: playing store. And the item he loves to sell to us: key lime pie. :) And it's the very best key lime pie we've ever had.

Pretty flowers

On Saturday, I hosted a shower for baby Oliver and his Mama, and we had such a nice time. Of course, I completely forgot to take any pictures, which makes me sad. I'm taking it to be a sign of a good party and not a sign of a bad hostess...

I really wanted to have some pretty flowers for the shower, but I've never actually arranged flowers, believe it or not. My Mom and my Aunt are the ones with a talent for that. Still, I figured it was worth a shot, and if all else failed, I'd just place them in water in one of the vases we got for our wedding, which mostly collect dust these days.

I really wanted to use some beautiful blue hydrangeas and white ranunculus, but they were a little out of my budget. Instead, I settled on some yellow spray roses, white tulips, white daisies, and some green mums (do they dye those?). I had enough flowers to make the main table arrangement on the "It's a Boy!" wagon we received as a gift when the Monkey was born, plus 3 smaller arrangements. I used some pretty green wine glasses for those, and those were placed around the room for little touches of spring here and there.

The flowers are still looking really good, making the inside of the house look as spring-y as the outside. I hope they last a few more days. It's amazing what some pretty flowers will do for your mood and for dressing up an otherwise very plain dinner table!

Baby Oliver's Quilt

Our dear friends recently had their second child, a beautiful baby boy named Oliver. They didn't find out whether they were having a boy or a girl, so when I decided to make a baby quilt to give them upon baby's arrival, I really tried to make it gender neutral. I tend to prefer deeper colors for baby quilts, but I was afraid it would look too boyish or girly, so I went with pastels instead.

I only had a little bit of the Japanese nursery rhyme fabric that I had ordered for the Monkey's burp rags left, so I decided to make that the center of the blocks. The rest of the fabric I used was left over from the very first quilt I made (a gift for another friend's baby, which I'll share some other time). I had previously trimmed the pastel prints down to 2 and 4" strips, so piecing the quilt top went really fast.

I decided to try my hand at freehand quilting with this quilt top, and, to my surprise, it was a lot of fun (but I need lots more practice!). I tried making loops and squiggles, but I think I went a little crazy and it ended up being a little too densely quilted. I like a little bit of texture, but after washing the quilt, it was just too crinkly for my taste.

Still, I really like how it turned out, even if it's all pastels and too densely quilted. I decided to back it with minky fabric, and used Amanda Jean's tutorial (for the most part). The only difference is that I ended up not using binding, but rather top stitching all around the perimeter of the quilt after attaching the backing. I would have loved to add a pretty binding, but, as it turns out, Oliver couldn't wait to meet his family and he arrived 3 weeks early.

The best part about him arriving early? He was able to come to his own baby shower and take his new quilt and bunny home with him. :)

Happy First Day of Spring!

Hope you had lovely weather where you live. We've been lucky the last 5 days or so, with gorgeous Spring weather. Today, though, was absolutely beautiful, with clear skies, sun, and temps this afternoon near 70!

So of course that has meant lots and lots of outdoors time for all of us, which the Monkey has been loving. In the last few months, he's really become something of a nature explorer and collector. Anytime we're outdoors now, we've got to stop and touch the flowers, pick up a rock or a pinecone, or play with a twig.

It's pretty cool.

The back of his car now looks something like this... Actually, this was taken a couple of days ago. Now his collection is about twice this. I'm thinking April's project will be making him a mesh treasure bag, like that in Amanda Soule's book, Handmade Home. He'll love that.

Speaking of which...

You probably thought I forgot all about my March project, didn't you? I didn't forget, I've just been dragging my feet til last night, when I whipped up a cute banner for a sweet baby boy whose welcome party I hosted today. You'll have to take my word for it that the banner was downright adorable, because I didn't take any pictures at the party and it has now been sent home with the new Mama and baby. I enjoyed it so much, though, that I'm making one for our family which I plan to photograph and share before the end of the month.

For now, I'm off to relax. Happy Spring!

Art Roll-up

Don't you just love free online tutorials? I am always amazed by the generosity and creativity of folks out there who are happy to share patterns and ideas with the world. One such tutorial posted on one of my all-time favorite blogs, Mr. Monkeysuit (I'm so sad it's no more!), is that of the traveling art show. We call it the Art Roll-up around here.


I've seen similar art roll-ups for sale at craft fairs, but always thought to myself, "oh, I can make that!"... and yet I never did. I guess I just didn't want to go through the trouble of figuring out the dimensions necessary to fit in all the goodies inside the pockets. So when I came across this tutorial, I was thrilled.


I love that there's room for a new box of crayons or markers or pencils, stickers, and a little notebook; it's always a thrill to get new art supplies. This particular roll-up was made as a gift for a very special little girl who turned 4 last month. I used some really cute Japanese house fabric I was saving for some project that I now can't recall. And since our little friend loves pink and purple, I decided to use pink grosgrain to keep it secure.


Our little friend is a girl that loves her princesses and anything sparkly, so I thought I'd add some pretty beaded barrettes to the roll-up as a special treat. These are incredibly easy to make; the instructions are from an older Martha Stewart holiday special issue. Will have to dig it up to make some more... Wouldn't they make cute Easter basket treats?