W.i.P. Wednesday {3/28/12}

Hi! :) Yep, I'm still around. Last week was so exciting, I feel like I kind of out did myself. I don't know what to blog about that could be any better than last week! So I just haven't. lol. That and last Friday my hubby and I were talking about the weekend plans:

Hubby, "Let's do something fun this weekend!"
me, "Ok!"
Hubby, "That means NO SEWING!!!"
me, "oh. I think sewings fun."

Anyway, he won out and I didn't sew on Saturday, or Sunday, or Monday, or Tuesday... so I guess I don't really have anything new going on anyway. ;) Though I still have lots of stuff sitting around that needs to be shared. But I'll save that for another day!

On another note, whoever said that March could go by so fast??? Hello! ONLY 3 days left until April! What is that about? I did have goals to finish 4 quilt tops, as well as do like 10 other projects this month! I guess that won't happen. oops.

I do have everything laid out and ready for a few other projects that need to be finished asap.

First are my do.Good Stitches blocks for this month. Melissa asked us to do heart blocks in varying sizes. Here are the two I've had finished since the first of the month. I'll post all of them when I finish up the rest.

I also made up these blocks for my Moody Blues Bee. These are for Linda. I LOVE this style of block! I've never made them before, but they were a lot of fun, and came together really quick! (I let her square them up since she has the perfect sized ruler for it. I did not want to mess these up!!) (did I share these already? I can't remember.) Anyway, I sent them back earlier this month. I still have one block to make up for Sabrina. It's my first, un-paper pieced flying geese block, and it's not as easy as I thought it would be.

I also still have two blocks to make for Tiffany as well, as part of our Bee a {modern} Swapper bee group. She is making a picnic blanket and I think her inspiration mosaic is to die for! This is going to be the cutest quilt ever!!!


I have my pattern for the DQS12 all ready! The templates are printed and taped and I'm ready to sew... just need to pick out the rest of the fabrics. Here's what it will look like (but the warm colors will be prints, so it will be a little bit different than this.) Crossing my fingers it will turn out well!

It will finish at about 18" by 18". I'm excited for it!

I did work on my Granny Square quilt the other night - so I guess I did do some sewing. But I had to unpick it all. It was my first bad experience with bias sewing. I mean my first HORRIBLE experience. I kind of didn't trim up my sashing strips to the right length and was just going to trim off the long edges after I had it all sewn together. It was SO wavy. Yikes! I'm hoping I can get it to work, otherwise the quilt just might end up 10" smaller than I had planned. :) I can roll with it. I'm cool like that. lol.

I also have loads of packages to send out in the mail today... so get ready all you giveaway winners!! :) Fabric packages are just about on their way! :)


On a non-sewing related topic. I have decided to start doing "learning time", aka preschool, with my boys. I need some more structure in our lives, and I think if I can get a set schedule with set activities, then it will be good for all of us! I would love to send my big guy off to preschool, but it's not something we can do right now. and I know he would love to dive into learning and games and hands on activities! I've been trying to find all the ideas and info I can, so I can pick the things that will be best for both of them. Crossing my fingers I can get a good system going for us. It's just a tad bit overwhelming. ;) ...update: I did find some awesome blogs with tons of free printables and info! The top three that I'm using stuff from are: Confessions of a Slacker Mom (an LDS themed schedule), Confessions of a Homeschooler (she has more Bible related stuff, but also a ton of non-religious material), and 1+1+1=1 (I really love her Tot School program. I know Jacks will love some of the things she has. There is A LOT of resources on her site!) Going through it all (no I haven't actually printed anything off yet) almost makes me think that I could homeschool. lol. We'll see what I think after I actually get stuff organized and start trying to actually teach my children. :D cheese!

Ok, now back to sewing! :)

Happy Wednesday everyone! 

and be sure to check out Freshly Pieced and see everyone else's WIPs!

FREE Quilting Class on Craftsy!

Hi! Guess what I signed up for? A free quilting class on Craftsy! It's called: The Craftsy Block of the Month. It's by Amy from I can't remember where, but I know I've visited her blog before. Anyway, she is teaching two blocks a month and by the end of the year you will know how to complete 20 new blocks, quilt, bind, etc and finish a quilt! :) I figure it can't hurt to learn new things, obviously. And I really want to learn how to sew curves! I don't know what that block looks like, but I'm interested to see how she teaches it.

January is already up, and although I haven't finished the video for it, it already is full of tips I didn't know about. :) If you have never taken a class on Craftsy, you should join this one! I think most of them are around $30. This is my first class actually, but I like it! :) Anyway, I thought I'd share!

I don't know how else to get you there except taking you through my page. ? If I click on the class it just takes me right in and I don't know what it will do if you aren't signed up for it yet. So here is my profile page, and then just click on classes and there it is! :)

Anyway, I also decided to share some of my projects on there. It seems like an awesome website, and a great community to share things! One of my *dreams* is to make a few patterns, and it looks like that just might be a good place to upload them? I don't know. I guess I'll find out when I get there. :)

Happy Crafting!! :)

Made It: Learning Numbers

Sometimes I really want to be able to sit down and learn with Hunter. But then I think of all the supplies I need. :) He's been doing really well saying all his numbers lately, but doesn't quite have them in order, or recognize which is what (except 2. He knows that one.) Remember, he's only 2 1/2. I hope he's not behind. ;) Anyway, I finally decided to hurry and do a quick nap time craft and make him some extra large felt numbers so that we could have some good visuals (and not waste a ton of paper all the time). :)

haha. Did you notice that my 9 is backwards in this picture. I did realize it afterwards. :)

He seems to love them!

Here's how I made them (they did take longer than one nap time, but I did finish them in one day):


First I cut out paper numbers using my Cricut Expression and Mickey Font cartridge (This is one of my most favorite fonts!!)

Then I traced around them twice with a chalk pencil onto different colors of felt.

• Make sure that you flip the number over once so that you can put the two drawn on sides together and not have any chalk showing. 
• I also did the number in order starting from red going to purple, so that when we laid them in order they would make a rainbow. This is a good way to learn colors too, which we've already practiced with these. :) I love double learning!!

Then cut out the numbers (2 of each)

 

And easy-peasy quick and easy, line them up (I used pins to keep them lined up as I sewed) and sew them together using coordinating thread. For the lighter colors I simply used white thread to save time and you can't even tell. 

I debated stuffing them a little, but decided to leave them. I think I like them better flat.

(the flash reflecting off of them makes them look really weird in this photo. oh well.) 

Hunter does a really good job at stacking them nicely when we're ready to put them away. Now all I need is a bag to put them in. Or I thought of making a board or something to put on his wall so they can be hung up all the time.  We'll see what I get to. :)

We like these so much that I've already started on an alphabet, I just need to sew them now.

To hang them on the wall I thought of making a simple wall blanket but adding lines of velcro to keep them stuck on there. I haven't made it, but I think if we ever have an extra play room, I'll make one for there. :)

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If you would like to use the file I used to cut out the letters on my Cricut, you can find them here (http://dbbydesign.webs.com/svgfiles.htm). You will need to own Design Studio by Provocraft as well as the Mickey Mouse Font cartridge to be able to cut it out. I have the file for the numbers as well as the alphabet.

This site, dbbydesign.webs.com, will be where I upload any files (for patterns or cricut files) that I share. :) So check it out. :)

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