string quilt progress!

Well, I've made some progress on my string quilt. It's been so much fun! I've really enjoyed working on it. Here's a little closer shot.
And I'm fascinated by the back. It's nearly as neat as the front!
Each block is 10" square, and it's 7 blocks by 10 blocks. And now I'm fretting about how to quilt it and how to put on borders.
You see, because of the muslin used in the construction, the blocks are thick. And I was planning on putting on 2 borders, but I am concerned that they may not hang correctly or may feel flimsy? Suggestions? Help please!

a birthday present

Here's what I'm currently working on. It's for my youngest. And I love it! It still needs 2 more borders: one in the light blue and one in the hot pink.

Thrilled with the colors.

Now if it would just quilt itself.....

And I found this at Jo-Ann's. I think I showed an admirable amount of self restrain in not purchasing the entire bolt. LOVE IT! I did buy 4 yards. I have no idea what I'm going to use it for. Probably quite a few projects!

And I have an idea that I need some help on. I want to do a quilt with flying pigs. Maybe applique? Not sure. Any ideas?

Hot air balloon is done!

Been trying to finish stuff up lately.... so here's another one!

I had started a heating pad cover for my dad back here, and it was one of those weeks where I didn't get it finished before his birthday. {hides in shame}

So I gave him a partially finished present with the promise that I'd get it finished and it would be beautiful.

Anyway, here's the front:
I am SO in love with the cloud quilting. Love it! I will be on the lookout for another project that requires clouds.
And here's the back. I like it just as well! I can imagine a whole big quilt done like this.

I made it to fit his specific heating pad, and it ties shut on the end. Happy Birthday Daddy!

pink and black finished

I finished up the pink and black donation quilt over the weekend. I really love it!

It's about 40" x 40" finished.

I have committed to trying something new on the quilting on my donation quilts this year. You know, trying to make myself learn something new. So on this one, I quilted a tight spiral from the center of the diamond out. I like the way it turned out.

And here's the backing.

A treasure hunt....

I'm cleaning out to move, which means I'm running across all sorts of treasures I had forgotten I have..... so here's today's treasure: a measuring stick holder.

It was made by my paternal grandmother. Her name was Millie, and she could sew anything. She could knit and crochet as well. She was thrifty before thrifty was cool, and my dad remembers being sent as a child to go fetch some piece of furniture out of the dumpster so she could recover it!

Anyway, she made one of these for my mom, so I always remember it sitting my mom's machine. And when Grandma passed away, I inherited hers.

It needs a little bit of repair work, but I'm up to the challenge. I like it.

I was blessed to have 2 grandmothers that were amazing seamstresses. I like to have their things around my sewing table--I'm hoping some inspiration comes from them!

Happy Valentines Day

So friends, I don't post many pictures of myself. But since today is Valentine's Day, I'm posting a wedding picture of me and Mr. WendyCity. We celebrated our 11th anniversary in January. Isn't he cute?

And here's what I made him for Valentine's Day. Here's the inspiration.

I went with a deck of UNO cards because there's more in a pack. And cause I just need to do something different.... I'm goofy that way.

And here's some of my inside pages.

I also let my daughters make some suggestions, and I put those in there with their initials.

And this one is a joke. When I was pregnant with my first daughter, he claimed he would never, ever, ever carry a pink diaper bag. Ever. And now that he has 2 little girls.... well, let's just say that he carries the pink diaper bag when necessary.

Anyway, this was a super fun project, and it would make a great gift for lots of events! I think it would make a really neat gift for a child -- fill in a card each week all year, and then give it as a gift on that child's birthday!

Have a happy valentine's day and lots of love to you!

tea party fun!

What can I say? The tea party invite is done!

Deb from New Zealand sent me this beautiful picture, which was exactly what I had in mind!

I fussed with it for a while, and then I wrote the little rhyme, and then I passed it on to my sister in law Meredith to finish up.

Because she's super-amazing with that sort of thing

(and all other sorts of things as well. She's just super-amazing in general.)

And so this is what she came up with. I LOVE it.

I've talked a little bit about what my 2nd child has been through here.

Anyway, her first birthday is a big milestone.

Wendy asks for teapot help!

Friends, I need some help.

I'm going to throw a tea party for my daughter's first birthday. I know a lot of you precious quilters also enjoy a good cup of tea.

Does anyone have a picture I can use for the invitation? a teapot, cup of tea, some lace doilies, etc? Maybe a beautifully set table with some flowers?

Or would anyone be willing to set a table and take a picture for me? I would be ever so grateful.

Window treatments and crib sheets!

These crib sheets have been around a while.

Used them with both kids, and they had some stubborn stains and were generally dingy.

But I found a solution -- pink dye!

$1.50 at Jo-Ann's and about 30 minutes, and voila!

Fancy new crib sheets!

But just a note, if you don't want to have hot pink hands the rest of the day, wear gloves.

So I wanted to be able to construct the valance to match the bumper, and then leave it up to match her big-girl room. So here's her valance.

It's super simple, but I like the tulle to make it extra girly. This would be an easy, cheap way to embellish a ready-made valance as well! This is a standard window (36") and it took about 4 yards of the light pink and 2 yards of the dark pink.

Crib Bumper

So I had a master plan for my youngest daughter's bedding. I wanted to do something that would be useful for longer than a year..... So here is what I came up with.

I started with a pattern for a twin-sized quilt. Made up the blocks, and then made 6 extras. I put away the quilt blocks, and then used the 6 extras to construct this:

So it's 12" tall and long enough to go around 2 sides of the crib. I put some small sashing between the blocks to make the length come out right. Backed it in some white muslin since the back didn't show.
Quilted it.
Loops on the big blocks and stippled everywhere else.
and then I sewed ribbons into the binding to attach it to the crib. Easy! And quick!
Now here's the cool part. I made a window treatment to match it, and it will not only match the crib bedding, it will match her big-girl bedding as well... {will post about the window treatment soon... and the quilt! and what I'm going to transform the bumper into.... stay tuned!}

Here she is wrapped up in part of the twin-sized quilt I'm working on for her first birthday!