I won! :)

Malka from A Stitch in Dye did a give away for some sample packs of Saral transfer paper, and I won! :) I'm so excited! She has a lot of cute examples of using it to write on fabric and then FMQ (free motion quilting) over it... and I love it! It will be so perfect to use on Mabel's quilt too, since it will be a sure fire way of putting her name and birthday and such on it! Yippy! :) (can you tell I'm excited?!!)

Anyway, I'm getting closer with the quilt and I'm getting really excited about it. I went and bought the backing fabric for it today, a medium pink minky dots. (I have to use the minky dots since that's what I did on both of the boys quilts). I wanted to use a nice green, but they didn't have a good color, and I think the pink will turn out nice. I also got some pink and green thread to quilt it with. I hope it will turn out (I am still a little nervous about that part of it).

Can I also just say that I am amazed at all the talent out there in the quilting-blogging world. There are a lot of nice, and very talented people, and it really does make me feel like a novice. I've been sewing forever, but getting into the whole quilting realm is definitely new to me (I'd say making 5 or 6 quilts puts me no where close to knowing what I'm doing - or being great at it). I find that the more I explore it the more I want to try patterns and techniques that I've never done before, or were never interested in trying. I'm a little afraid that once I start I won't be able to stop! We'll see what I have/make time for once the little one arrives, but I sure am enjoying it now. :) It's funny how your interests can change so quickly. :)

Anyway, if you couldn't tell, today is a good day! I'm finally off of bed rest, and boy can I tell you, it is a night and day difference with how I feel! I can finally do what I want to do and not feel guilty about it. Like cleaning (yes! I have a clean house again!), or going shopping, or being able to buy milk when we're out. :) It was depressing feeling unable to do anything for myself or my family. And now I really appreciate being able to serve and help them. I guess there is always something good to learn from our experiences. The end.

Have a great day!

W.i.P. Wednesday #4

This week has been a good week, at least it felt like a productive week. I'm not sure why, I only finished one project, but I guess it was kind of big. ;) I don't have any new projects, which is a good thing. Well, ok, I really do.


New Projects:
I have a big scrapbook paper stash and the other day I was trying to think what I can do with some of it to whittle it down. I came up with a cute idea for girls camp this summer. I'm going to make little matchbook notebooks for the girls, which they can keep by their beds and they can write "secret" notes to each other during the week. I think it would be fun, and I would sure love it! :) So their's my new project. And yes, as my sister commented, I probably really do have crafters ADD. haha. :) That's alright. :)


I was looking around etsy for ideas and found some really cute ones:

Enchanted Quilling came up with these purple ones:

Gloria Castaneda made these cute green ones:

And I absolutely love these ones using paint sample cards by Campfire Designs:

Ongoing Projects:
The only project I worked on this week was my surprise project, which I finished. So all of my in progress projects are still in progress. 


I have started thinking about the picnic blanket again though! I have decided/realized that I don't have to fill up the squares completely with designs, I can space them out, do them a lot bigger, etc. I'm getting some good ideas looking at what everyone else is doing, and I think it will help make it go a LOT faster! Yippy! :)




Finished projects:
I did make up and finish a tutorial for the pincushion I made last week. You can find it here.


I also finished up my surprise project: A pillow(case). I entered it into the Bloggers Pillow Party over at Stitched in Color. I like it! :) You can read more about it here.

This week's stats:
New projects - 1 (matchbooks)
Completed projects - 2 (tutorial and pillow)
Currently in progress -  4 (down one from last week)

Click on the W.i.P. button on the left to see what others are working on. :)

Blog Swap: Courtney from Scraps and Scribbles

I'm so happy to be visiting with you all over here at From Blank Pages!  I lovelovelove Diane's blog-she is so incredibly talented!

In case you're wondering who this girl is rambling on and on, I'm Courtney from Scraps and Scribbles.  

I'm a SAHM to one busy 2-year-old boy.  I've been married to my wonderful husband for just over 5 years.  We live in sunny Florida, and love it.  When I'm not spending time with my son or taking care of the typical housewife things like cleaning and the laundry, I like to craft, sew, cook/bake and take pictures.  I'm also the creative mind behind D Squared Creations, my Etsy shop that I run with my sister-in-law where we sell our pretty creations.  It's full of fun vintage finds and pretty jewelery to dress up your outfits.  I love fashion and make-up and sharing what I find.  If you'd like to know more about me, you can check out the About Me page over at my blog.


As I mentioned, I dabble in home decor and I love to search for fun finds at thrift stores.  Here's a message board that I fixed up to serve as our family's message center/mail spot.

Not bad for a $4 Goodwill find, huh?

I also love using common materials in unexpected ways.  I whipped up this orange burlap pumpkin for Halloween this past year.

One of my goals when I started my blog was to become better at sewing.  My Anthro-inspired ruffle tee was one of my very endeavors and I loved it!  

Boston Cream Pie is one of my favorite desserts and this recipe makes the best one I've ever had.

Got some old mismatched silverware lying around?  Use it to dress up your garden using my Silverware Garden Marker tutorial-they're super-easy!

One of the things I try to do, not only with my blog but also with my every day life, is to keep things simple.  I made this wreath with interchangeable embellishments so I wouldn't have a pile of wreaths lying around. 

I do a weekly segment where I share tips and tricks.  One of my favorite series was the one I did on make-up (one of my passions)-you can check out my video tutorial on how to do up your whole face in 10 minutes.

I also do a weekly segment called Fashion Fridays where I share fun fashion finds, from trends I love to pretty clothes.  And my love for shoes : )

 Thanks so much for letting me come by today and share a bit of my blog with your lovely readers, Diane!  I hope you all come by Scraps and Scribbles and say hi-I'd love to meet you!

Thanks for stopping by Courtney! :) And everyone be sure to go check out Scraps and Scribbles... along with her etsy shop! She really does have some amazing stuff! :)

Made It: Blogger's Pillow Party

Yup, amidst all the other projects I'm working on I decided to make my very first pillow, ok pillowcase, and alright, it's my second if you count the one I made in 8th grade sewing class,  and enter it into the Blogger's Pillow Party. :) (I think part of it is from going stir crazy being stuck at home (modified bed rest)... and it's a way to feel like I am having some sort of interaction with others.)  ;)

I've found so many great projects and techniques lately that I want to try, and when I decided to make my pillow I knew this style would be perfect! :)

I really love the background on this little quilt. 

(Delilah from Love.Laugh.Sew made it and shared it at Canoe Ridge Creations. That's where I first saw it.)

But I also love this cute embroidery that retro-mama did and added into her bag.

The design is from this book: The New Crewel: Exquisite Designs in Contemporary Embroidery, which I think is fantastic and is on my wish list. :)

We already have so many pillows that I wasn't sure that I would really use a new one. We do have one giant pillow that my hubby bought a few years ago that we don't use too much anymore. Mostly because we don't have a pillowcase long enough to fit it. I know with having a new baby coming this will be the perfect pillow to prop up on, and how fun to have a cute pillow to go along with a cute new baby?! It will probably mostly stay on our bed, but I wouldn't doubt if it followed us around where ever we might be hanging out. ;)

I used the tutorial at Comfort Stitching for the background, and decided to make up my own picture/design for the flower embroidery. To construct the actual pillow I used the tutorial at Fussy Cut. So simple. :)

The whole pillow was so much fun to make! I loved going through all of my scraps and figuring out where to put them. I thought that I would end up cutting into my stash of bigger pieces of fabric, but I didn't!! I was so happy! Pure scraps. :)

The back isn't my all time favorite fabric, but I had to use it because the colors match the front so perfectly. I also lucked out that I had a solid navy that matched the color perfect. I couldn't be happier with how it turned out.

Hum. I can't quite tell what he thinks of it. ;)

Links:

pillow making tutorial:  http://fussycut.blogspot.com/2011/04/tutorial-basic-pillow.html

scrap background tutorial: http://comfortstitching.typepad.co.uk/comfortstitching/2010/01/raw-edge-applique-tutorial.html

Made It: Scrappy Pincushion + Tutorial

A week or so ago I finished up my scrappy pincushion. I love it!! It's so much more fun to look at than my ugly orange square. ;) AND it was so quick to make and put together, totally worth it.

It was inspired by Megan's pincushion over at Canoe Ridge Creations - which I pretty much copied exactly. Hope you don't mind! But I love it! :)

I went ahead and put together a tutorial/pattern for it too! (a pdf file) You can find the pattern and download it HERE. (http://dbbydesign.webs.com/patterns.htm)

  

W.i.P. Wednesday #3

I did have a few things to report on last week, but never got around to posting anything about them. Here's what's going on now... (it will be a little more impressive since I've had more time to work on things.) ;)


New Projects:
Surprise! Here are some pictures of my latest project, though I'm not telling what it is. Yet. :)
For this part I'm using this tutorial over at Comfort Stitching. LOVE this!

I'm ironing a bunch of small scraps onto some heat n' bond. The other blue is a towel so I can easily get it out and put it away without messing it up.

I'm also going to combine this embroidery project with it. This is the first real embroidery that I've done since I was a kid. It's turning out alright I think, not perfect, but I like it and am excited to get it finished!

I also decided that I want to make a Mug Rug. There are so many cute ones out there! I especially like this small quilt that I found at Stitches and Scissors (but made by Barb from Quilting Barbie. I LOVE IT!) that I would love to use some of the elements from to make one. I am always loosing my coasters, so I think a mug rug would be a little bit easier to keep track of. :)

Scrap projects: My step-mom gave me a BUNCH, and I mean bags and bags of her scraps a few years ago. I've gone  through it before, but since I just finished organizing all of my scraps in preparation for the Bottled Rainbow quilt along, I decided to actually get them all sorted. It was awesome the things I found in there! I found one quilt top that could easily be layered, quilted and bound and finished. I also found a few quilt blocks that are similar to ones I turned into quilted coasters and sold in my etsy shop a few years ago. (maybe last year. I don't know.) :)  Yippy! It's fun repurposing others peoples projects. :) I'll probably move these to someday projects though, because I don't want to work on them now either. And maybe one day when I need something different to do I'll get them out...


Ongoing Projects:
Mabel's Quilt: I made some good progress with this quilt. I finished up the outer border, and have the center done.

I just need to finialize how I want the inner border to look. Any suggestions???

Just a white border?

Only the patterned border?

Or both? The patterned border in the center and then a smaller strip of white?

Or I could do a totally different color... although I don't know if I have any of the right color fabric, so I think I'll skip this option unless it turns out to be the best.
Almost done! :)

Bottled Rainbows Quilt Along: Ok, I really haven't started on this yet. Though I did get my colored fabric cut for the border of each square, but not completely either. Where I ordered my fabric from has been having issues with getting their last order of Konas in, so I still don't have my complete order. Kind of frustrating, but it happens.

I haven't done any more free motion quilting on my Picnic Blanket. I realized that if I do 2 squares per week it will take me 21 weeks to finish quilting it. I don't know if that discouraged me or what, but I haven't worked on it since. lol. It's going to take forever. I'm going to try to find a time to just sit and whip out a lot at once... we'll see. :) I do really want it finished before it's officially summer and picnic weather though, so I guess I'll have to hurry.

Someday Projects:
Christmas Advent Calendar: This is one of my someday projects. I'm going to make it, but it's not urgent, so I'm not going to worry about it now. However, I DID get all the fabric cut for it. Finally. I've had my pile of fabric choices sitting around since December, so it's nice to finally be able to put it away. ;)

Finished Projects:
Jackson's Easter basket: This is one I started and finished in just a few days. Super quick and he likes to wear them as hats. ;) I made one for Hunter last year, so I definitely couldn't leave out Jacks this year. I started making a tutorial for it as well that I'll finish up and post, though sadly probably not before Easter. If you want to make one let me know and I can pass it along earlier though. All I have left to do for it is add the pictures.

 

New Pincushion: Last Sunday while everyone was at church, and I was stuck at home, I THOROUGHLY enjoyed having some super quiet sewing time - with NO interruptions. It's a rarity around here - and finally finished up my pincushion. :) Yippy! I wish I had a darker grey, and being my first time with this kind of scrap piecing, I almost wish that my colors were a little shorter, but I am happy with it. I actually just filled it with leftover small scraps of batting. It works. :)

Temple Plaques: And these I finished up a while ago. I really like how they turned out. So simple and easy, and surprisingly they don't look like a simple and easy craft. They actually have a finished feel to them, so we've enjoyed them. :)

This week's stats:
New projects - 2
Completed projects - 3
Currently in progress -  5 (up one from last week)

Links:

Surprise project: http://comfortstitching.typepad.co.uk/comfortstitching/2010/01/raw-edge-applique-tutorial.html

Mug Rug inspiration: http://www.stitchesandscissors.com/2011/04/getting-to-know-barb-sewers-interview.html

Made It: Temple Plaques

Temple Plaques

During General Conference (you can listen or watch it here - http://lds.org/general-conference/sessions?lang=eng), President Monson talked about Temple's and said,

"To you parents of young children, may I share with you some sage advice from President Spencer W. Kimball. Said he: “It would be a fine thing if … parents would have in every bedroom in their house a picture of the temple so [their children] from the time [they are] infant[s] could look at the picture every day [until] it becomes a part of [their lives]. When [they reach] the age that [they need] to make [the] very important decision [concerning going to the temple], it will have already been made.”

I liked that. We have one picture with the temple hanging in our house, but it's definitely not clear that it is a temple. 

 This is one of our wedding pictures, obviously. It always makes me smile!

These plaques are super easy to make! You can use any picture, drawings (kids drawings), paintings, or fabric to cover the board. Even add some embellishments, vinyl, or whatever else when your done. I used 8" plywood boards that I got from Lowe's, I had the boards already cut from when I was making plant presses (they are about 5" wide maybe. You can ask the people at the hardware store to cut them down to size after you pay for them which is really convenient). Make sure to sand them so they are really smooth.  Find whatever picture you want to use adjusted the pictures to be just a little bit bigger than your wood. I printed mine out on photo paper so they would look nice, and used mod podge to attach the pictures. First I did a layer of mod podge on the board and glued the picture on. Press out any air bubbles. Then turn them over (picture side down), trim the edges

Repeat on all sides. 

I cut a little bit into the picture/under the board so nothing is for sure hanging out.

 Then mod podge over the top to seal it. Carefully press out any air bubbles.  To finish them up drill a small hole in the back, slanted up, to hang them on.

Neil picked the Logan Temple of course.

Hunter picked the Salt Lake Temple... I love this shot!

And Jackson picked the Provo.

These really were super fast and easy to make, and the possibilities are endless!

If you want to use a temple picture, there is this site that has hundreds of pictures to choose from!
(http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/photographs/)

My Favorite thing about these... if my boys just happen to take them off the wall THEY CAN'T DESTROY THEM!!! Yeah! :)