Jeans hemming...

I bought myself a pair of way-too-long jeans.

and I used this tutorial:
http://www.kaylaksthriftyways.com/the-not-so-nerdy-way-to-hem-jeans/

to turn this:

into this:

it was so easy!  seriously awesome.  I think it took 20 minutes.  My hat is off to Kayla and her wonderful tutorial.

Nail polish

**Note:  this review is my own personal opinion.  No one gave me anything to say it.  The link will take you to the product on amazon but I don't make any money off of it at all.**

Ok, I realize this has nothing to do with quilting at all.

But sometimes I find something I like a lot, and I want to share!

I started reading Kristie's blog Blushing Basics a while ago, and she has a lot of good ideas.  I am not really a "beauty" girl because I don't have time to be and it's not my thing.  But I like good product recommendations because it saves me time and money.

My daughters like to paint their nails, and I enjoy the time that lets me spend with them, so I've been painting my nails pretty regularly.  I love this product, Seche Vite top coat for a few reasons.

1.  It dries fast.  Meaning it dries in the time I can convince my 2-year-old to sit still for her nails to dry.
2.  It keeps my nails from chipping as fast.

I think you can find it at Sally Beauty Supply.  Mine came from Ulta and I had to hunt for it and it was $10, so I suggest purchasing it on amazon where it's just under $7 including shipping.

And just for fun, here's what my girls and I did to our nails today:

I needed to get started quickly on a baby quilt, and I love this design by Oh Fransson!, so I decided to adapt her stars to a baby quilt size.....

Here it is all laid out.  You can't imagine how many times I had to rearrange it because a child or dog walked across it again....  but eventually I got them all in place at one time.

Each square is 3.5", and my layout is 11 squares by 12 squares.

The requirements for the quilt were "mostly not pink, only using pink as accents sparingly"

What do you think?

 Now they are all stacked up and labeled to be sewn into rows.

Puzzle time!

I love rainbows, and I love a color wheel.  

So you can imagine I was super excited when I found this puzzle!

I ran into it completely by accident at my local WalMart.  

It's a wonderful way to teach the color wheel in a tactile way.

Also good for teaching the names of some of the more complex colors (chartreuse, for example)

I'm sorry that I can't find a link to it anywhere, but it was in the toy section of WalMart for about $14.

The pieces interchange, so my kids have had fun not only constructing a "proper" color wheel but also creating designs and flowers and such.

Update

I just wanted to share a picture with you as an update to this post.

This is  my friend Ray with his daughter Haley.  They were reunited this morning in California.

Thank you for your concern and your prayers.

My new project

UPDATE ON HALEY:
Thanks everyone for your kind responses to this post.  I have an update.  Haley was pulled over in California, and the police contacted her father.  He is on a plane right now, on his way to meet her.  If you are a person of prayer, would you please pray for his travel, for their reunion, and for the long trip they face coming home?  Thank you.
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And now to quilting......
I've taken on a new project.

I'm doing some commission quilts for a family out of their beloved (late) grandmother's clothes.  Grandma had seriously good style, and so it's been fun working with all the colors and textures.

Some are denim....

Some are black and white...

And there's more to come!

Has anyone else out there worked on a similar project?  What were the challenges you faced?

So far, my major challenges have been thick seams and fabrics of varying stretchiness.

New Challenges are fun!

I have a resolution this year: to post here every other day.  We'll see!

Before Christmas, I asked my friend Bonnie to make me a scarf.  She crochets, and I don't.  She graciously agreed, and so I asked her what she'd like me to make for her in return.

She pointed to her purse, which was just about to rip at the strap and asked me to make her a new one.

I told her no problem.  Inside, though, I was panicking.  I don't sew 3-dimensional things!  I started reading up on purse construction.....   I borrowed her existing purse that she liked, and I combined some ideas and drew up a pattern.

Then Bonnie decided that she wanted to keep one panel from her old purse and combine it with other new fabrics.  Which scared me good because it meant I'd be destroying the old one to make a new one....

But for all my worrying, it came out super cute.  The crocheted flower panel came from the old purse.

The brown is corduroy, and the brown/green is a velour home decor.

Here's a closeup of the bag.

I talked her into a patterned lining, and I'm so glad I did.  This cute print came from JoAnn's and I love how it makes the inside fun!