New Wreath for the Holiday Weekend!

Do you remember this wreath I made?

Well my plan is to sew a new block every month. I want to have 12 blocks to switch out and update the wreath as the year goes on.

When it came to June I was unsure what to make for that month. Then I started quilting the next quilt in my practice stash, a flip-flop quilt! Brilliant! So I whipped up this little cutie for June.

I used some leftover fabric from Emma's Garden quilt for the flip-flops. Sewed some rick-rack over some ribbon. Added the cute little flower button and TA-DA. The quilting isn't my best, sigh. Moving from a long-arm machine to my little white couldn't be more difficult.

I know it not officially June until Tuesday but I thought this holiday weekend was a perfect debut for the flip-flops!

Change in PURSE-spective

Appliqueing 61 little 2.5 inch circles gets a little tiresome. I have been working every night on Emma's Garden quilt. I am making headway but it's slow going. I found myself dreading the evenings when I sit and stitch. Besides which my fingers need a little recovery time from the numerous pokes and stabbings.

Rarely do I have to go far to stumble onto a new project. God knows I have several unfinished ones I can pick up at anytime. I wasn't in the mood to finish anything. I wanted to START something new.

I was at Hancock last week, strictly because I had to get something, which I currently don't remember, but it was an errand with a specific goal, I think. Anyway, while I was there I stumbled upon a rack of black and white prints. I LOVE the black and white prints they have out now. Well, since I had a coupon that would expire if I didn't use it; I decided to pick up some black and white fabrics. I didn't have a project in mind at the time, I had little doubt that I would stumble upon one soon.

Well would you believe I found just the thing to use that fabric on, and no it's not a tote. It is totally different than a tote, a purse. I found this awesome pattern (here) at Warehouse Fabrics Inc. Now before you get all up in my face, I honestly needed a new purse. I always need new purses. I have been looking for a new purse for at least a month and have been unable to find one that I liked and that I could afford (that is always the catch). This pattern definitely fit the bill. Besides it is essentially free because I already have the fabric in my stash. (See how that works.)

This pattern was fun and easy to make. There are lots of pictures on the tutorial, which I love. I like the idea of making your own purse because you can add as many pockets as you wish! How great is that?! I only made one modification adding a button to the pocket with a flap, I am forever dumping my purse. The pleats can be a little tricky, especially when you are trying to "make the pleats lay naturally" to sew the pockets onto the sides of the bag. Still unsure if my pleats are lying naturally or unnaturally but I have pockets (4 of them).

The purse is big enough to hold all of my things and then whatever the kids need me to "hold" for them. The only thing I will probably do different next time is make the strap a little longer, more of a messenger bag length. That is strictly personal preference.

For now I am back to sewing on circles. Hmm, unless I can find a wallet pattern.

You Are Here--> ?

Have you ever started a project, worked about half way through it and wondered, "What in the HECK was I thinking when I started this!?!?!" Okay, well, I'm SO there. Many of you have listened to me rant on, and on, and on about the quilt I am making for my daughter. There hasn't been an easy part of this project. Scratch that. The easiest part was shopping for the fabric. Then it got difficult.

I should have seen little red flags popping up from the beginning. You know really obvious things like, maybe the fact that the blocks are Hexagons! Hello! This just screams set in seams. Did I listen? NO. I just kept happily sewing little misshapen hexagonal blocks.

Perhaps, I should have been clued in when I had to rip the quilt apart the first time. NO. That would be silly. Then I would have missed all the fun of having to rip it apart and re-sew it the second time. Word to the wise. When making a quilt for a bed, measure the bed first! Seems so simple, doesn't it? Apparently, I forgot that step. When I drug the quilt out this past week to quilt it for the Blogger's Quilt Festival (click to see some really amazing quilts), I was amazed to find that the quilt did not fit the bed. Out came the seam-ripper once again.

Once it was the correct size I was able to quilt it. That proved to be challenging but not, thankfully, painful. I did have to secure many, many, many loose edges. I quilted flower petal shapes in the brightly colored areas and leaf shapes in the green areas. After the quilting was finished and I took it out to photograph it. I got super psyched! Almost done! Not.

The quilt has straight edges on the top and bottom, easy enough to bind. However, the sides are uneven. As I began to contemplate the binding of the edges I realized that I would need bias cut binding to finish this quilt. Okay, haven't done that before but I was on a roll.

Did you know that there is actually a formula for finding the total number of square inches needed to cut bias binding? Well surprise! There is and it goes something like this....

Step 1 2l×2w+10=c

Step 2 √2c=total square inches needed

( Add 10 inches to your total circumference. Then multiply this total times 2. Once you have that take the square root of the total for the number of square inches needed. )Whoa! Fortunately for those of us who are less mathematical than your average pre-algebra student there are much easier ways to cut bias bindings.

With bias binding cut, sewn and pressed I stared attaching it to the quilt. WooHoo. Hold on a minute their little lady. (Insert western accent) Not so fast. Did you forget that there are still pieces to applique onto that there quilt?

Ah, Yes. Yes I did.

Once again my seam-ripper proved it's value, thank you quilting gods.

Now I sit posting about a quilt I had hoped to have finished to show in the Blogger's Quilt Festival. Instead I have 53 centers to applique on before I can bind this quilt. (For you mathematical quilters who I know are out there. 60 centers minus the 7 centers I already appliqued on.) At 15 minutes a center that is... way to many minutes to have it done before the end of the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

Jack and Emma's Spring Piano Concert

Here are Jack and Emma playing their duet for the Spring Piano Concert.

They did a wonderful job!

Tree House Update

Many of you have requested an update on the tree house. Here are the most recent pictures. We have all of the walls framed. We are starting on the outside fence slats that will line the lower half of the walls. We are also starting to place the railing around the "deck" area. John and Mark cut down some smaller trees to use as deck railing.

Most of those are oak of some type. Let me tell you that is one hard tree to drill through. Initially we planned on making the railings and the pickets out of the oak trees. After one frustrating and sweaty day of putting up one railing we are rethinking that plan. While I was sick the 'men' took over the tree house building and now some modifications have been made to the plan. (figures)

It should take us the rest of the summer to get it together but like Mark says, "What else have we got to do this summer?" HA!

I'm addicted!

Hi, I'm Kristin and I am an addict. I have only recently developed this addiction to tote making. I'll admit my fabric addiction has been a long running problem. Currently I have 3 new totes I have made. The teacher totes are completed for this year. I still feel the need to make more totes. I currently have two in process and cannot stop looking for new patterns. I see the damage done to my family, as I delay dinner to top stitch a handle or pocket. I know my kids are starving, as they tell me repeatedly, "WE'RE STARVING MOM! and "WHY DON'T WE HAVE ANY GOOD SNACKS?" and my favorite, "Aren't you done YET!" Yet, I cannot stop making totes.

Here are the three newest totes I have made. All made from the Grab Bag pattern on allpeoplequilt.com by designer Bonnie Kozowski. Aren't they just the bomb! I plan to give these to the youngest teachers as I feel they probably have less to tote around. The pattern is super simple. You can whip one out in about 1.5 - 2 hours. They are so stinking cute! I fear my addiction has no end in site. There are just so many great patterns out there! I'll admit. I am a tote addict. But really how bad can it get?

Piano

Jack has been taking piano for 3 years now. Emma just started this year. Sadly, we only have a keyboard for them to play on. You can imagine how many times a day I have to listen to "I wish we had a piano." "When can we get a piano?" "I think we need a piano." and many, many variations of the same. Jack came home from lessons one day to show me his new piece. Imagine his surprise when he realized he could only play the first page of the piece because we didn't have enough keys! Well, it was definitely time to buy a piano. So after at least 6 months of searching, calling and visiting pianos we finally came upon one that both dad, his financial minded-self, and mom, her aesthetically pleasing minded-self could agree upon. This weekend John rounded up a crew of co-workers to help with the move and TA-DA! we have a piano. Jack and Emma are thrilled!

Mark, however, is not.