Why I don't make toys

 I worked really hard at making my daughter some cute paper dolls.  I found the fabric at the quilt shop, cut out all the dolls and their clothes, backed them and even made a cute carrying pouch for all the clothes and dolls.  I knew it would be so much fun for my daughter to play with and keep her quiet during church. 

But everytime I get them out, my daughter looks at me and says, "no, let's just clean them up."  Fine, I'll just play with them by myself because I think they are cute and fun!!

What I've been up to....

I recently turned this

and this....

 into cute "paper" dolls with clothes.  And had some leftovers to use for gifts for other little girls that may like them!

 

I made a table runner for my MIL and one for myself for Christmas.  

My quilt class is finished now, so I have turned my eyes to making Ellie a big girl blanket for her big girl bed.  Imagine this....

with this fabric...

Here's hoping I can pull it off!!

My first quilt

 I made this cute quilt for my friend's new little baby boy. It is the first quilt I have ever done.  I did all the cutting, sewing, recutting, unpicking, resewing, quilting,  My mom did the binding because I just can't quite figure that out yet! While the pattern is simple, I fell in love with the fabrics. I am hoping the bright, pretty colors will help my dear friend look past the oh-so-many imperfections. It was made with love!

I took the finished product to my monthly quilting class for show and tell.  Quilters are so wonderful! Even though it is such a simple quilt- look at the other show and tells!!- they made a big deal about how pretty it was and took my picture for the blog (because it was my first quilt).  And yes, I am headless in the picture.  It's probably better that way! :)


I'm linking up!

I am no good at this

No matter how many hours of HGTV I watch, I will never be good a decorating.  I have managed to do things in my house little by little, but now I am stuck on my master bedroom.  Other than move furniture in and out, we haven't done anything with this room since we moved in 3 1/2 years ago.  My mom made us a beautiful quilt when we got married that was the one bright spot in our room. 

In my redecorating planning, I decided that I want to go with some different colors for our room.  I wanted brown walls (we get TONS of natural light) with green accents.  I found a bedding set I thought was perfect so I bought it.

While I still like it, now my lack of designer-ness is causing me stress.  Since I have taupe bedding, can I still paint my walls brown? I was hoping to do tan walls with a dark brown accent wall around the bed.  Would that be too many colors of brown?  Would I be better off painting the room green and going with brown curtains for this window?

Can I paint it green, even if 3 other rooms in my house are green (1/2 bath, laundry, nursery)? Or should I stick with the brown paint and do green curtains? I bought some off white curtains with the intent to sew a band of green fabric at the bottom.  Of course, when I went today, the store no longer carried the fabric I wanted! 

I think once I have the paint and curtains figured out I'll be able to do the rest.  But for now, I'm wishing David Bromstead could swing by and give me some tips!

Latest projects

Lately I've been giving my sewing machine a good workout with:

• blocks for my block of the month class at a local quilt shop. I love going to this class! I love spending the morning with my mom and looking at all the fabric.  And I love pretending I understand all the terms everybody uses!

• Working on ornaments for my tree this year.  I've made good progress in getting the background stars cut, most of the pieces traced and cut out of the fusible web.  Still need to fuse to fabric, cut them out again, then piece together on the star.  Think I can finish by November?

• An awesome project for a friend who just had a baby which I can't share yet, because I haven't sent it yet and she may read this!
• Happy thoughts about the project I bought the last time I went to the quilt shop....guess what I'm making!

My Mantel before and after

I decided that my mantel decor needed a little shaking up.  I don't know what prompted it, but once I thought of it, I couldn't rest until it was done.  So after many google images searches, blog browsing and a few Goodwill trips, I am happy!

The before (sorry, I wasn't so good at taking pictures then).

I like the flowers in the center (from our wedding!), but the other decorations weren't colorful.  With white walls and white woodwork, I needed something that would stand out. 

I went shopping in my house and moved some candlesticks from the piano, but it needed more. 

I got a few vases at Goodwill and transformed them with jute (idea from Thrify Decor Chick) Cost : $3 for vases, $1 for jute, $1 for craft glue.

Then I read this post about transforming books and I had to do it! I don't have distress ink, so mine aren't as cute.  I'll probably do that one day, but I was all about keeping costs low.  I didn't have any books to use, so back to goodwill - $5 for 2 books, $2 for scrapbook paper.  I hated paying for books, but it allowed me to shop around for the sizes that I wanted. 

A little more shopping in my house and I found an awesome metal piggy that my sister gave me a few years ago as part of an inside joke.  It was perfect!

The results:

I'm still trying to decide how to arrange the books.

And of course, I'm practicing my photography skills.

The addition of the curtains my mom so graciously sewed for me helps a lot too.

Before:

After

Total cost of make over: $12 ($32 if you count the fabric for the curtains). 

I'm linking up!

Thrifty Decor Chick's Before and After Party!

Second Saturday class

My mom is a fabulous seamstress.  She claims there are people who are better, but she's the best in my book.  Anyway, we've decided to take a class together at a local quilt shop.  You pay $6 for the first month's kit.  The kit contains fabric and instructions for making one block.  If you come to the next class with your block complete, you get the next block for free.  Otherwise you have to pay $6 again for the next block.  It is good motivation to get your work done! My mom helped me A LOT with my first block - helped me cut it, told me exactly what to do each step.  It turned out pretty good, I think.

The next month, she helped me get started on the cutting, but we didn't have time to sew it.  So, I took it home and tried to do it on my own.  I think I did a pretty good job!

Look at how my star points match in the center! I am so proud of myself!!

I can't wait to do the next one!