Busy Quilting

Well it’s been awhile since my last post. Valentines has come and gone and so have two birthdays in my family. This year must be the year of the quilt for me. I started and finished 2 large lap sized quilts. One for my Sister whose birthday was on the 16th and one for my nephew who turned 10 on the 20th. I finished both quilts in the nick of time and they arrived at my sister’s house on her special day.

pattern: “Swoon“ by Camille Roskelley of Thimble Blossoms

each block measures 24″.

fabric: “Birds and Berries“ by Lauren + Jessie Jung for Moda

the grey fabric was Kona Cotton Solid in Steel Colorway

quilt measured about 60″x60″

Here is a shot of my favorite block. I am in love with the purple and orange combination. I also gave free motion quilting a go on some of the pieces. Not the whole quilt….I was too chicken to do that. I love how it turned out, I will definitely be free motion quilting a lot more in the future.

I loved making this quilt so much that I plan on making a Queen size for my bed. Pattern was really well written and I only used 8 fat quarters along with the Kona Cotton to make a nice size quilt.

Here is the one I made for me nephew using this His favorite color is Red. I used a mix of red, black and grey along with Kona Cotton in White for background and sashing.Here is a picture of the back. I quilted this with simple straight line quilting using my new Singer Quantum Sewing machine that came with an awesome walking foot.

I was also busy sewing a little dress for my daughter for Valentines day. I used some red Hello Kitty fabric that I picked up from Joann’s. She loves her some Hello Kitty. Hee hee who doesn’t?

As you can tell I have been loving sewing on my new machine. I am currently working on a couple other quilts. I will post more about those as soon as I am done and the people have received them. Happy crafting.

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Join the Fun!

For all of those that sew there is an awesome sewalong going on at Sew She Can using bijou lovely’s herringbone block tutorial. This is my submission for this round.

I love it. I used various red and black fabric. The red in the middle is my favorite. Its red with little white hearts. 🙂

This is going to be on my chair for the month of February but I love it so much it might stay longer. Hurry the deadline for submissions is January 29th. The winner gets a $50 gift card to spend at the Fat Quarter Shop. Who doesn’t need more fabric ;). Have fun and post a comment here so that I can see your entries.

In other sewing news I finally started and finished part of my son Kizaiah’s Christmas present. Man I am such a slacker, well that and my sewing machine was acting crazy. Probably was in shock with how much I used it during the holidays. I have a new one on the way. So excited.  :)Anyway, he requested a “satchel” backpack. He picked out the fabrics months ago. He was super excited yesterday after school and couldn’t wait to use it today.

He wants me to make him a key chain. For what keys I don’t know but I will oblige. Here is a shot of the inside.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Just wanted to stop by and say Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everybody. This year I was busy making a lot of gifts for friends and family, and now that the packages have been opened I don’t have to keep them secret anymore.

Back in October my Mom asked me to make a quilt for my Grandma. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that. I enlisted my Parents, Sister and her family, Brother and His wife and my deployed husband, to send me their traced hand prints so that I could incorporate them into the quilt top. I used blocks from Fresh Lemons Quilt Summer Sampler Series and Solstice Star Series. Each unfinished block was 12 .5 inches square and the Hand print blocks were 13.5 inches…oops. So I added sashing to even up the quilt blocks.

The majority of the fabric that I used was Heather Bailey’s Nicey Jane that I have had in my stash for a couple of years. It was intended for a quilt for myself but I think that my Grandma deserved this beautiful fabric. In fact I might have enough left for a quilt for myself too.

I also made a quilt for my daughter. She has been bugging me to make her one since I’ve made big quilt for both the boys and once I saw this quilt by Lovely Little Handmades using my favorite color combo and fabric line I had to make it. I substituted some light blue fabric with white polka dots that I had in my stash along with some red, pink, and aqua that I picked up from Joann’s fabric. I ordered this “Simple Life” fat quarter bunch by Tasha Horsley from Skye Reve Fabric online shop.

I used some Hello Kitty fabric that I found at Joann’s fabrics for the backing along with the leftover pink fabric and some pink fabric with little white polka dots that I had in my stash.I picked up some clearance red and white striped fabric for the quilt binding.  I love how it turned out. She was so excited. Her reaction totally makes all the late night sewing worth it.

I also made some other gifts, I pad cases for my mom and dad.

A coupon organizer, composition notebook cover and this thread catcher and weighted pincushion combo for my friend and her mom.

Three of these ruffled mini wallets, only a picture of two of them I forgot to take a picture of the one I made for my niece and the bi-fold wallet that I made for my nephew.

I also made a super cute Bible Cover for my sister, with the help of my Brother in Law who took the measurements for me….heehee sneaky 😉 I love the little patchwork that I put on the front. I hope that it fits her Bible. I wont know till she gets home from her family vacations in California. Fingers crossed.

I also made my niece a doll and my friends baby a hooded towel but I totally forgot to take pictures of those when they were done. Needless to say I was a busy little sewing fool here and I still have gifts for my boys that I have to make before they go back to school. Kizaiah wants a satchel backpack. I promised him one and I need to get sewing on that and I planned on making both boys lap desks but didn’t get a chance to make those. They did get an I.O.U. though, thank goodness they understand that they don’t need either of those gifts right away. I will post about those when they are done.

I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas and may the next year be filled with lots of Love and Laughter.

 

Quick Weekend Dinners and Sewing

Just wanted to make a quick post and show you what I’ve been up too. I really should be sewing Christmas gifts but for those of you that know me personally you know that I tend to have Craft ADD ;). Anyway I made a peasant dress for my daughter this week using this tutorial. I was super easy to make and turned out super cute. Next time I make it I will be increasing the flare and making it long sleeves so that she can wear it this winter.

I also whipped up a cute skirt using a headband that I bought at WalMart for $1 and some orange polka dot fabric that I had in my stash.

For dinner this weekend I wanted something quick easy and good. Every weekend the kids request pizza but this week I decided to make pan pizza. So good and easy. The only problem is the pizza is limited to the size of cake pan that you have. I used a 9″ cake pan for one pizza and then I made a hand tossed pizza so that we would have extras for lunch the next day.

I used these recipe for the pizza dough and the sauce. The only change is that you oil your 9″ cake pan, I used extra virgin olive oil, and preheat your oven to 400°.  Stretch and press the dough into the pan covering the bottom and up the sides. Top with sauce and toppings and bake for 30-35 minutes.

On Saturday night we had BBQ Chicken Taquitos. These are so good. I tried the original but wasn’t impressed but once I found the BBQ version over at Pink Parsley I was hooked. You can use pork or chicken. I used leftover rotisserie chicken. I think it would be good with leftover turkey from Thanksgiving too.

 

 

 

Baked BBQ Pork Taquitos
inspired by these Baked Chicken Taquitos (which are from Our Best Bites)

3 oz. cream cheese, softened to room temperature (reduced-fat is fine)
1/3 cup bbq sauce1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp chile powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1/2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp liquid smoke (I omitted this, I didn’t have any on hand)
pinch red pepper flakes
kosher salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup diced onion
3 scallions, thinly sliced (I omitted this, I didn’t have any on hand)
2 Tbs minced fresh cilantro or parsley (I used a sprinkle of dried parsley, because I didn’t have either of these fresh on hand)
hot sauce (optional)
2 cups shredded or chopped cooked pork or chicken
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese (I used Colby Jack)
8-10 (6-inch) corn or flour tortillas (I used flour)
cooking spray ( I used Extra virgin olive oil spray)
Ranch Dressing and/or BBQ Sauce, for serving

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese with the bbq sauce, paprika, garlic powder, mustard, brown sugar, liquid smoke, chile powder, red pepper flakes, cilantro, scallions, onion, and 1/4 tsp kosher salt.  Fold in the pork and cheese.  Taste and season with additional salt and pepper if necessary.  Add hot sauce if you like things spicy!

Take 8-10 (6-inch) flour tortillas, wrap them in plastic wrap and microwave for about 30 seconds, just to make them pliable.

Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of filling onto the lower third of each tortilla, and roll tightly.  Place seam side-down on the prepared baking sheet.  Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling.

Spray the taquitos lightly with cooking spray, sprinkle with Kosher salt.  Bake 15-20 minutes, or until the tortillas are crisp and golden-brown.  Serve with bbq sauce and ranch dressing for dipping.

Hope that everybody had a great weekend. Now I have to head back to my sewing room and get going on all the Christmas gifts that I have to make.

 

Another Halloween pillow

I listed another Halloween pillow in my etsy shop. I had fun making this one. It’s hand embroidered with an envelope closure and will fit a 12×12 inch pillow form. I am still offering free shipping in the United States. Thanks for checking it out.

It’s Fat Quarter Friday

Every Friday over at the Fat Quarter Shop’s Jolly Jabber they customers the opportunity to “Build a Bundle” for their shop. One of the employees picks the feature fabric and you hop on over to the shop and find awesome fabrics to go with the chosen one. One day I will be lucky enough to win. The prize is a one yard of each fabric that you designed. How cool is that? Here are my submissions for this week. Wish me luck.

I could do this all day but I have to clean the house before I have to pick up the kids from school. Have a great weekend everybody. Happy Crafting. Did I mention there was no limit on how many you can create. Cool right?!

Halloween pillow cover

Getting ready for Halloween in my Etsy shop. More Halloween themed things coming soon, but for now there is one 12x12in pillow cover listed with free shipping in the US. Thanks for checking it out.

Etsy Shop Grand Re-opening!

It’s official…I’ve decided to open my etsy shop again. Yay. Something to keep me busy while my hubby is deployed. Free shipping in the US. There are only 2 listings but I will add more soon. Thanks for checking it out.

Just keep sewing just keep sewing

That has been my moto for this week. I thought that I would post a picture of the quilt that I made for my sons 9th birthday. He picked the colors and the pattern. It felt like it took forever…well I guess it kind of did, I started this last summer before his 8th birthday. Then we moved and it got put away and I finally picked it up again. Once I got sewing it actually didn’t take that long to finish. Don’t know why I do that to myself 🙂 Oh well. Here is the spiderweb quilt tutorial that I used on sew mama sew.

This quilt was machine pieced and hand and machine quilted. I love the backing fabric.

Putting my sewing machine to work

Well the kids started school again and this year our youngest started kindergarten. I’m sad because there are no more babies in this house. Well I’ve been trying to keep myself busy while they are all away filling there heads with knowledge. I can only stand cleaning this house once a week and with the other days I am filling my time at the sewing machine. Travis will be leaving again soon and while he is gone and the kids are at school I will be sewing and crafting my little heart out and posting new things in my etsy store. It’s been 3 years since I last put anything up in there but I am ready to open again. Now with me not working out of the home I can focus on putting lovely handmade things up for sale. This time around I will post all kinds of goodies not just punky pouches but you might see some pop in and out of there too. Plus I am open to suggestions on what people might be looking for in an etsy shop. I will post here and let you all know when things are up and running but for now I will post pictures of the things that I’ve made this last week for my daughter and niece.

as you can see my daughter loves hello kitty, but then again who doesn’t? For the pillow case dress I used this tutorial. So easy to follow and fun to make. I see more of these in the future for sure!

And now pictures of my kids on the first day of school. I can’t believe how fast they grow!