On the 12th Day of Christmas...

I finished and hung my Advent Calendar!

pattern by Elizabeth Hartman.

I cut this fabric out maybe three years ago? But only started sewing it a few weeks ago. I'm so happy to finally have it finished! I think if I made another one now, I would use different fabrics, but this one is bright and colorful, and that's fun! :) (most fabrics are Robert Kaufman, white is Kona White.) Just so you are aware, sewing on the numbers took SO long! I tried to get it finished by the first, and totally could have, except for all those numbers. You could probably sew them on/attach them differently, and it would be a very fast project.

In the sashing I quilted a spiral design, which I think has the perfect feel for Christmas! 

My quilting leaves much to be desired, but for not practicing very much, I'm quite pleased with it. :)

Now to tell you what not to do:

When I sewed the pocket panels, I only sewed a 3/8" seam, when I was supposed to sew a 3/4" seam = you can't see very much of the back of the pocket. :( I knew as I was sewing them that it had to be wrong, but I didn't want to get up and go in the other room to check, so I just kept sewing. lol. A lazy mistake. So if you're lazy like me, don't do it. :)

I also don't know how all my pinks and reds got in the center. I think when I laid it out to arrange the colors I had the numbers fabric on top. It looked really good to me! So either I messed up by arranging based on the wrong fabrics, OR they just got mixed up in the shuffle of ironing and sewing the numbers on. I don't know. I am still happy with it though, so not a big deal. Just something to mention: Arrange block placement by the front pocket fabric!

Now to find some goodies to fill it with! Mostly I want to make laminated cards to keep in the pockets, each one with a service project, scripture, song, story, etc to do. I enjoy bringing in the Christmas Spirit with giving and serving rather than just candy and gifts. Though those are fun too. ;)

Oh, and talking about giving... If you are still looking online to do your holiday shopping, don't forget to use Ebates.com! Ignore my "sales pitch" voice, because I really honestly do love shopping with Ebates. (I always get so paraoid that I sound like a salesman). I've been using Ebates for years! They have a list of available coupon codes for each merchant, as well as cash back percentages. I've saved a ton when shopping at Fabric.com, Old Navy (today Old Navy is having a 35% off sale + 2% cash back - sometimes it's more!), Puma - my husbands favorite, they have Overstock, Hancock Fabric, tons of clothing stores, Walmart, Target, Amazon, Groupon, etc. I wouldn't tell you about it if I didn't love it myself! Plus, you get $5 when you sign up and make a qualifying purchase. If you're going to shop online anyway... ;)

Ok, I hope you are all having a wonderful week!!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway! ends tomorrow night.

#nonstopChristmassewing at the Beach!

I LOVE Christmas time! I love the spirit of love and giving that fills the air through out the world! Whether one believes in Christ, or in something else, there is a stronger sense of kindness, friendship, love and giving. It warms my soul. :)

It's a little different living in Florida though. Usually that "warmth" is in strong contrast to the cold winter air that blows around outside. Not so much this year. Yeah, it was 85 degrees outside yesterday. Being the non-local locals that we are, we took full advantage of that and went to the beach! again. (we also went the weekend before Thanksgiving. It was heaven! I think the ocean is warmer than Bear Lake is in August! (that's where we'd go every summer in Utah.)) I would be lieing if I said I didn't enjoy it.

 I even blogged about it!! If you are interested you can see loads of pictures over on my family blog here. Maybe the photos will help warm you up! heehee. ;)

Anyway, besides adjusting to this new type of Christmas, and going to the beach, the beginning of December always hits with a mad dash to get everything sewn up! I LOVE making handmade gifts, and always want to make more than I could ever possibly accomplish in a month. But I try nonetheless. Over on Instagram and started a hashtag for people to share all their Christmas sewing too. It's fun to be involved and see what everyone is working on! If you are doing Christmas sewing, tag your pictures with #nonstopChristmassewing and play along! :)

I've been trying to finish up my advent calendar that I cut out about 3 years ago! It's been on my to-do list forever, and I'm sure you've been sick of seeing pictures of it in the ziplock bag, if you have been following my blog for a while. lol. :D Anyway, I finally completed the top (the applique numbers took forever!) and since we were going to the beach... I brought it with me to take a picture. My hubby is the BEST EVER for helping me out!!What a stud!

The sashing is white, I had the camera setting on a weird setting and it didn't turn out how I'd hoped. But anyway, here it is all together! I kind of really messed up making it, but oh well. I'll share more when it's totally finished. :)

And because I never did share a finished photo of Mabel's quilt, I brought that along too. I so love this quilt! Mabel loves it too. I'll get some more pictures another time too... but I have been wanted to share it for a month or so now, so here it is! :)

Quilt is made of Heather Bailey's Nicey Jane collection. The white shashing is Kona white. It measures about 60" x 65"? (I don't remember. oops.) The back is a pink minky dot. I quilted flowers all over it, which means I do need to take more pictures of it. :)

To add a little Christmas cheer, Neil and I watched this short Christmas video last night. I thought it was really cute.

Tonight is also the yearly Christmas devotional, at 6 pm MST. You can watch it online here, or on Facebook. Or on The Mormon Channel. It's a few Christmas messages with loads of beautiful music by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir! They are amazing!

Wishing you all a beautiful Christmas season!!

and as always, happy sewing!! I hope to see you on IG. ;)

Travel Duffels 1 + 2

Do you know that it is now time to link up your finishes for the second quarter of the Finish-A-Long over at She Can Quilt?! Well, it is. And that means that I am racing to get at least a few things finished from my list. Yep, if you've been around my blog for a while, I'm sure you know that the last week of the quarter is my favorite time to finish a ton of projects! :) My original 2nd Quarter list can be found HERE. You have until the 7th to link up your finishes.

My first finish is my second travel duffel. I made my first bag in April, so that I could have a big bag to take all my stuff to the hospital in. It was the perfect size!

I used some Amy Butler home dec weight fabrics that I've had forever. Originally I was going to make a diaper bag with them... glad I never did. :)

The same time I started that one, I started a second so my kids could have their own to share when we traveled. I might make a third for my hubby, but not now. Anyway, I never did get the second finished, until now!

More Amy Butler.
I didn't have enough of the main fabric in this one, so the outside pockets are the same fabric as the handles. 

I like that the bags kind of match.

I used this pattern for the Quilted Travel Duffel by Studio Cherie on Etsy. I think you can find the pattern on Craftsy as well. I bought this pattern a few years ago, so I don't know if it's been updated, but I wish there had been a few tips the first time I made it:

• prewash your jute webbing - it shrinks when you wash it, as well as softens up. I think the ink in the webbing might also bleed - another good reason to prewash. (You can find jute webbing on Etsy. Some shops are better priced than others, so look around. I was excited to find some with a light grey coloring rather than the red and blue that was most common. but it really doesn't show, so not a big deal anyway.)
• Cut your webbing LONG. Measure the length she says from the short ends of the angles, rather than the points. The first time I cut it, it ended up being short. The next time I was about an inch too long, so really, I don't know how to cut it, but longer is always better!
• I did not zigzag around all my pieces as often as she suggests. For the end squares, I only zigzagged around them after I had added the pockets.

I can't remember what else...

On the white bag I added zippered pockets on both ends, as well as the pocket between the straps on both sides. I also added one extra pocket between the straps on the inside. I love pockets. I would have added more to the blue bag, but I didn't have enough of those fabrics. Oh well. :)

And I must add that these bags are HUGE!! They don't seem so big just carrying them around, but they hold a LOT. We went on a day trip to the Field Of Dreams movie set and brought a picnic blanket, snacks, water bottles, our baby bjorn, another blanket, some jackets, etc and still had room. We also did an overnighter in Nauvoo and fit all of our clothes, diapers (for the kids and baby), swimsuits, bathroom stuff, etc, in it (that is two adults, 3 children and a baby). Usually we have to bring two suitcases. It was awesome to only have one bag!!! We are driving to Utah later this month and I'm excited to see how much we can fit in these two bags and not have to bring as many bags as usual. :)

Hooray for a finish! 

Stay tuned for more in the next few days. :)

Do you have any fun plans for the summer???

Happy Monday!

Hooray for a last minute finish!

I finished up one more of my original projects for the 1st Quarter of the 2013 Finish-A-Long over at Can Quilt! Yay! :) Unfortunately I can't find my camera (instead I found a yucky water bug trying to look for it. I think I'll look for it again later.) So bear with me and my camera phone picture. ;)

9 Reversible Drawstring Bags
Fabric: Top row left: Valorie Wells - Nest, 4 Amy Butler Bags (the 3rd has Michael Miller on the inside) Bottom Row are all Riley Blake, I don't remember the details. Except the shells, I don't remember what that is - not Riley Blake.  The pink one with the flowers and cherries (So Cherry is the line I think) really makes me crave strawberry ice cream. lol.

I used to sell these in my Etsy shop. I still have some there, but haven't made them for a very long time. (obviously since I started these ones over a year ago!) Anyway, they are fun and I love these fabrics. Once I find my camera I'll take some better pictures of them, and probably list at least some of them in my shop. (I have a hard time not keeping them since the fabric is so great! Especially the Amy Butler.) lol.

I hope you had a wonderful Sunday! :)

(I woke up to screaming children,

which makes for a very cranky mom.

I am NOT a morning person.

So I spent a lot of time sewing today to help me recover.

But otherwise it was a fantastic day!)

1st Quarter Finish-A-Long Finishes!

I know if I don't put this post up now, I'll forget and miss out. Are you playing along in the 2013 FAL? I have been so out of touch with blogging lately, but this is one event I LOVE. I love making lists, love crossing things off, love being able to see that I'm actually making progress on my pile of WIPs.  If you don't know about this yet, you should stop by She Can Quilt and read up on all the details HERE. The first quarter is just ending (last day to link up is tomorrow - hurry if you haven't yet.) And that means the next quarter will be starting soon after, and you'll all be able to see a repeat of pictures of everything I still haven't finished. lol. ;) Pretty soon I'm sure you'll all be rooting for me, just so you can stop reading about what I'm not working on. CHEESE :D

Anyway, you can find my original post here, with all the projects I had hoped to finish this quarter. I only ended up finishing three out of the thirteen, but that is pretty good I think. Even though I finished them all at the same time, it finishes up to be one per month. If I can keep that pace up, I'll have them all finished by the end of the year (plus one of course).


For a quick round up, here they are, with the link to the finished post (if you want to read more about them) underneath each.


1. Bee Block Quilt:

read more here.

2. Mabel's Car Quilt (that she does NOT want to use in the car. lol.):

 

 read more here.

3. Christmas Table Runner:

read more here.

I especially love how this one turned out after I washed it. I am really loving the straight line crisscross quilting design right now. (this picture is before I washed it.)

So there it is!

There are my finishes.

If you're new to these parts,

welcome and thanks for stopping by! :)

and good luck to finishing up all your projects!

A Week of Finishes: Christmas Table Runner

This  is one of my original 1st Quarter FAL projects. You can find the original post with all the projects here. I'll be linking this up at She Can Quilt here.

A Week of Finishes is all about blogging and finally sharing the things I have finished. I hope you'll join me! The linky will be open until Monday night, March 4th.

 

Christmas in March? Ok, sure. Actually this was finished in February. I had a good friend come over in December, or sometimes, and taught her how to quilt, or at least a little bit. She wanted a table runner, so I put this easy pattern together and decided I wanted to make one too. I don't have a long table, so instead of making it two blocks wide, I made mine more square than long. I am definitely excited for November/December to roll around so I can display it! :) 

The Front
Kate Spain's JOY collection. LOVE these Christmas fabrics!



The Back


I REALLY love the quilting on the fabric on the back of this quilt.








And there it is. Simple as that. :) I really need to order some labels to put on my quilts... I always forget to make one.

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A Week of Finishes: Bee Blocks Quilt

This  is one of my original 1st Quarter FAL projects. You can find the original post with all the projects here. I'll be linking this up at She Can Quilt here.

A Week of Finishes is all about blogging and finally sharing the things I have finished. I hope you'll join me! The linky will be open until Monday night, March 4th.

Oops about yesterday! I do have finishes, but yesterday turned into a day of paying bills, going on a walk, budgeting, and going out to dinner with the hubby's work! (so fun! yet so much driving) Anyway, here's to another day and another finish! :)

As a part of Quilting For A Cause, I volunteered a while ago to accept a bunch of other people's orphan bee blocks and make quilts with them. Unfortunately it's taken me a long time just to get this one put together. I have plans for the others and hope to get them done soon. (Assembling blocks is fast enough, but for some reason I seem to stall at the point of basting. Maybe now that I've recently been basting so many quilts, I'll remember how quick it really is and stop stalling.) ;)

So anyway, these blocks are from Melinda, and I think they go together SO well! I really love how this quilt turned out. And I especially love the binding and how it really brings out the beautiful blues that are in all the blocks. (I'm a sucker for blues and greens).

 The Front

The Back

I quilted it with very simple straight line quilting, which I really like. I still need to wash this one, so we'll see how it looks when it comes out, but I am definitely pleased with this.

Now to find it a good home for someone to love. :)

Go ahead and link up your finishes! :) It'll be open until Monday night. Don't forget to link back here in your post so others can join the fun. HOORAY for finishes! :)

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I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!! :)

A Week of Finishes: Mabel's Car Quilt

This  is one of my original 1st Quarter FAL projects. You can find the original post with all the projects here. I'll be linking this up at She Can Quilt here.

A Week of Finishes is all about blogging and finally sharing the things I have finished. I hope you'll join me! The linky will be open until Monday night, March 4th.

Yesterday I shared Mabel's doll quilt, so I figured today would be a good day to share her car quilt! I've wanted to make all my kiddos car quilts for a few years now, but obviously never got around to it. It is SO cold here in Iowa that I couldn't wait any longer, well, at least for one of them. Winter isn't quite over, so I'm glad she'll get to use this one at least for a little while longer. :) (and I'm sure we'll keep it in there into the summer. I like having a blanket in the car.) Originally I was going to put a pocket on the back to stick your feet in to keep them warm, but when I tested out the idea, it was pretty bad. lol. :)  Anyway, here it is!

The front
Made with a jelly roll of Lola's Posies, Riley Blake and kona white

I love the back too!  Made from Anna Maria Horner folksy flannel. SO SOFT!! :)

I decided to only quilt in the sashing, which some I love and some I don't. I mostly did a different design in each strip, but by the end I started repeating my favorites. I need to keep practicing my FMQ, and this is a fun way to do it.

These are my favorite stitches

And the other ones

Sometimes I wonder if everyone's quilts are always perfect?! or if all the amazing pro quilters out there ever had "practice" quilts, or quilts that weren't so perfectly awesome. Mine definitely are not the later, but that's ok. Maybe one day I'll get there! :)

So here's to another finish! Yeah! I have one more quilt to bind and another small one I haven't shared yet. All I can say is that binding is getting so boring! Ha! I'm glad I have these out of the way! I still have two more quilts that are waiting to be basted, then onto some other not-so-close-to-being-finished projects. :)

UPDATED to add: The piecing of the strips was inspired by the back of Elizabeth Hartman's "Touch This Quilt" quilt. I've wanted to do this ever since I saw it, and am planning to do the back of my kaleidoscope quilt the same way.

Go ahead and link up your finishes! Be sure to link back here so others can come join in the fun. :) (the linky is the exact same every day this week, so if you posted on Monday, it will show up on every day's list. just fyi.) :)

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