Starburst!

I feel like I've been a pattern maniac lately. Yep. I have another one. I created this one in one day start to finish. It was just one of those things. You've probably already seen it and maybe some test blocks if you follow me on Instagram. (Instagram is killed the blogging world - sing it like Video Killed the Radio Star) :)

Anyway, this was a fun one. And I LOVE how the blocks turned out. First a few mock ups. I think I'm going to use this in mini version for my DQS13 quilt. Hoping my partner will love it.

a few more I put together while creating

yes, these are phone pictures of my computer screen. :} 

I am so lazy.

Anyway, I had some SUPER wonderful testers for this! I am so grateful and impressed. Thank you so much!!


Jennifer of Mr. Chicken and the Ninja Kitties, made two blocks.

Lisa of A Day in the Life of Raising Six Munchkins, made this beauty. I have some of this fabric and it really makes me want to use it in this block. :)

Thank you lovely gals!! :)

You can find Starburst in my Craftsy store as well as in my Etsy Shop.

and for this week only, you can bid on it as part of a pattern bundle for the charity auction for Newton! be sure to go check out all the handmade goodies up for grabs!

Find it HERE. (on facebook).

Happy Monday everyone! 

I am enjoying my lovely new curtains this morning! ;) 

oh, I still need to share those on here.

2013 FAL - 1st Quarter Projects

 Wow, I almost missed this! I've been waiting to take some good pictures of everything, but it doesn't look like that will be happening in time. ;) I have a lot of almost finished projects that I've been trying to get finished for about a year now. Well, now is the time to get them done! It's tiring having a huge to do list all the time. ;)

I was just going to pick a few projects and work on those, but I decided to list all of them that I want to get done and hopefully I'll be able to whittle down the list through the year. My goal: No more repeat projects! Nothing will last through 2013! ha. 


1. Mabel's quilt - need to finish this before I have another baby! I can't start his until hers is finished. Ready to baste and quilt. Have you seen this picture enough times yet? ha.

2. Kaleidoscope quilt - top finished.

3. Giant Granny Square - I still have a bit to do for the top, but this is a fun one. I really want to see it finished. SO excited to keep it in Mabel's room, or keep it for me. ;) (want to make a pattern for this one.)

4. Baby #4 Quilt - I made up this quilt block and decided it would be a fabulous one for baby #4's quilt. So far I've made one for each baby and they just keep getting more and more modern. :) So fun! I was almost going to say that I'm going to have to keep having more babies, but that is not a necessity to make more quilts. haha. ;)

5. Bags - these are so quick... but I get tired of repetition.

6. Another Quick project - a bunch of mug rugs and coasters.

7. Moody Blues 2 Quilt - this really is/should be on the top of my list. Need to get it done asap. I still have a bit to do on it though, so I would really love to finish a few that are closer and get them out of the way so I can feel like I have more room for this one.

8. Mabel's car quilt. I didn't start it until recently, but if I don't finish it it will be in a pile forever. New projects that don't get finished at the same time I start them are already UFO's. ;)

9. Melinda's quilt - top finished. Need to finish this and donate it.

10. Bee block quilts - I actually have a bunch of bee blocks that I've received from people and need to put them together and finish them. I need more fabric for some of them though. Maybe I'll call out for donations, since they are for donation anyway. ???  My plan post to come.
 hum, I don't have a photo of these. I guess I won't link them up at the end of the quarter if I finish them, but they still count for my list. :)


Some Holiday sewing:

11. Advent Calendar -

12. Christmas Table Runner - that is actually square. Top finished.

and one just one more...


13. Nest quilt - this is a somewhat quick quilt, just need to get at it. I'm about half way done with the top. Would love to make a pattern of this one too.

is it unlucky to have 13 projects? Maybe it's extra lucky and means I'll get them finished! :)

Ok, this is my list for this quarter! Wish me luck! :) (and add Pay it Forward 2013 projects as well as two swaps. I think I will be plenty busy.) :)

There are still a couple hours left if you want to link up your projects over at she can quilt.

Thank Goodness It's Finished Friday!!

I am so excited to be hosting TGIFF today! :) I love projects, especially starting new ones, but there is never anything better than finishing a project! Whew, what a relief.... when one is done I don't feel as bad starting a new one. ;)  If you are new to my little corner of blogland, I hope you'll stop and stay a while and check things out! I've been a bit quite so far this year, but if you are on Instagram, I've got plenty of things going on over there (my username is fromblankpages). Come follow along. :)


For my finish today I want to share with you an activity book I made for a custom order. I've made two for my little kiddos and they LOVE them! I still need to make one more (as well as finish up the pattern). They've been perfect for church and in the car on long trips. I'm usually not a purple person, but I love how this one turned out! :) Most of my purples are Kate Spain's Cuzco. I instantly fell in love with how SO silky soft those fabrics are!

The front

Measures 10 inch tall by 7 inches wide

The back.

Under the strap there is a full sized pocket to hold paper and other flat things, mini book, etc.

The inside.

I found these mini clipboards at Walmart and that is what inspired the idea for these! They are perfect for a half sheet of paper. I want to find some coloring pages and print two out per sheet. So far I've just cut plain paper in half and my wee ones have enjoyed those a lot so far. :) 

I also found some spiral top notebooks that fit perfect as well! Bonus!

Holds 8 mini twistable crayons, or regular crayons, but I LOVE these twistables.

The little pocket above the crayons is great for stickers or other fun stuff you want to carry along.

Hooray for finishes! :) Now it's your turn! Feel free to link up any recent finish you have, being sure to link back here so others can join the fun. You can grab the button from the main TGIFF site (or if you want to learn more, go here.

Also, stop by some of the link ups and comment on what others have finished. We all love a bit of comment love!

Thanks for stopping by!
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

First finishes of 2013! and The Maxi Skirt!

I've already finished a couple of projects this year! Wahoo! It's been fun. I love to sew. :)

The first one is a mini pillow I made for Mabel's new doll. I am making her a car blanket and with the scraps I decided to make her doll a little quilt too. I still have a few scraps leftover and decided to use them for the pillow. It's awesome not having any fabric left from a project! I still need to finish both quilts though. lol. One finished project to two unfinished, I'm guess I'm not starting off awesome. lol. ;)

side one

 

side two

 

really bad phone picture of the doll quilt top

another bad photo, progress shot of the car quilt. The top is finished now. I love it!

I also finally got out my knit and made myself a Maxi Skirt! I am in LOVE with it! So comfy and quick and easy to make! :) I had left over fabric of that as well and decided to make Mabel a matching skirt too. She's way cuter than me so I'll only share a picture of her cute skirt. ;)

We were twinners at church today. heehee. totally lame. But that's ok. Neil says, "do you know how old we are? Everything we do is lame. It's fine." lol. Awesome! Talk about freedom to do whatever I want now! ;)


I may have finished something else already too, but I can't remember right now. Swiss cheese brain is setting in! (aka pregnancy brain. that and I've been in a weird funk lately. blah.)

Anyway, I need to make my 2012 wrap up post still as well as my 2013 FAL First quarter post (due by the 13th). Hopefully I'll find time for that soon! :)

Happy Monday everyone!!

What do you have planned for this week?

Anything fun?

Finish-A-Long wrap up and change

I REALLY enjoyed joining in with Rhonda of Quilter in the Gap this past year with her Finish A Long! Some quarters were better than others, but it did help me get some projects finished up! Thanks Rhonda! :) There are just a few days left to link up your fourth quarter finishes of 2012, so don't miss it!  The ONLY project I finished this last quarter was my Candy Land Quilt. I guess that just means that I'll be *more successful* this year at getting things finished! (since I still have a huge list of unfinished items... plus most of them are closer to being done than when I started. obviously.) ;)

For 2013 she is changing hands and the FAL will continue with Leanne at She Can Quilt. I am really glad this is continuing and hope that it will help me finish all the projects I didn't finish last year! :) The Pre-1st Quarter Link up starts on the 7th! Time to go make my list of projects to finish! :)

Are you playing along too? 

I'd love to come see what you're hoping to finish this year! :)

Goodbye 2012! Hello 2013!

This is going to be my wordy, deep-thought post for the New Year. :) I've had a lot on my mind lately and I just need to spit it all out. Sometimes I don't know what to do, but if I can get it out and share it, for some reason it helps me see things better.

First I hope you all had a wonderful and merry Christmas and are having a good New Years! :)

We didn't put anyone to bed on time last night...

The girl and the hubby were the first ones out. The boys were pretty excited about the show they were watching. We did put them to bed at 11, then we watched Men in Black 3... but I fell asleep pretty quick. We are not that exciting when it comes to New Years Eve... we missed it by 4 min. lol. Maybe when our little ones are bigger we'll be more fun. :)

And now it's 2013.

The last few months I've been learning a lot about the family and seem to keep getting the push to focus more on my own family. Never a bad thing, right?! :) That and now that we are expecting #4, I have been OVERWHELMED (which is a gross understatement) with feelings of inadequacy in relation to being a good mother. "How in the world am I supposed to raise 4 young children?" It definitely makes me realize that I need to reorganize my life: cut some things out, put other things back in place. 

Source: momsbyheart.net via Holly on Pinterest

Thinking about what "goals" I want to set for the new year, my guideline is that everything needs a PURPOSE! And I want that purpose to focus around strengthening and helping my family, myself, friends, and those around me. I want to cut the clutter and busyness of life! Minimize, less stress, fewer commitments that don't improve my life or my relationships. Basically if I were to sum it all up in one word it would be relationships.

I've also thought a lot about the good friends I've made this past year, and how I feel like I've lost contact with almost all of them. I've been so busy with other things, some that don't even matter, that I have not had time to read blogs, email, etc. I definitely don't want to cut out my online presence. Especially since living out in no-mans land, that is sometimes where all my social interactions come from, at least sewing-wise. I LOVE the online community! But I have feel that I've buried myself in commitments that I think I want to be done with, at least for now. I want to get back to "hanging out" with the awesome people all over the world that I have come to know, and continue to make more friends and meet more people! So all of you out there that I have been unintentionally ignoring, I'm sorry!! I hope we can still be friends! :)

A little bit ago I wrote this post about blogging and sponsors and all that stuff. Some of your comments, which I am grateful for, made me see things in a different light. I don't want sponsors on my blog just because I don't want to feel committed to it. I enjoy blogging just for the fact of sharing my life and my projects with you. I love your comments and feedback. It's fun and enjoyable, and for me I think sponsors would lead to stress and feeling pressured to blog and always come up with new things. Right now I want no pressure. That being said, I think I am also going to step away from The One Stop Giveaway Shop. At least for a while. Even if I got sponsors there, I don't think it would be worth it. Looking back to the last few months I've noticed how it sucks me in to the computer and before I know it I've spent too much time away from my family. I really appreciate everyone who has supported it and used it as a resource!! Thank you! I have enjoyed it, and am always happy to provide a service that others can use, but now I need to be done with that.

Source: cute-spot.com via Jaimie on Pinterest

2013 is the year of Change!

I think to keep my sanity and to keep all of us here on the home front happy, I really need to set up a routine, for all of us. I have been really bad at sticking to a schedule and a routine. Every day seems to come and go on a whim. I get the house cleaned, but there is no order to it. We get things done and have fun, but I think my wee ones would do better if they had a daily routine and schedule that we followed. I especially want them to start helping with chores! I think a routine would help me feel better about all my sewing and projects too! (I can't cut that out! But maybe a schedule would help me get projects finished as well.) 

Anyway, I am still deciding on what exact goals I want to set. And I'm trying to not set too many! I really want to be able to reach them and feel like I am making good strides in my life. I usually don't set New Year's resolutions, or goals, and even though I make a huge list every year of things I'd like to do. My determination to keep them or follow through on them usually doesn't last past the first few weeks of January. I want this year to be different. Not that I want to make New Years resolutions, but rather Life Changes! :D I think a little trial and error in figuring out what they need to be is in order, and that is fine. But hopefully I can figure it out sooner rather than later. 

Now that I have my "guidelines" and purpose laid out, hopefully that will help me be wise in picking what I can and want to accomplish. Crossing my fingers! and of course I want to fit in some "learning new skills" goals, some sewing/crafting goals, and some creating goals! I just need to do them with balance. :) I really wanted to get the house deep cleaned and super organized before the hubby went back to work, just to get a good start on it all, but he's been sick. We haven't done much of anything around here since getting back from holiday travels. lol. :) Makes me realize that this is going to be a lot of work. And that's ok...

How about you? How did your holidays go?

Do you have any big plans for 2013??? :)