Tend The Earth Giveaway

This giveaway is from the fabric seeds blog.  You can find the post here.  I love their fabric.  I have purchased from them before and have great fabric and service.  This giveaway is for a "Tend the Earth" Layer Cake by Moda.  It is a really cool fabric line.  You should check this giveaway out.

Iron Caddy

My sister in law and I decided to have a sewing day. We decided to make this iron caddy.  I love it.  It is so handy.  After carrying my iron in the box for the last 10 yrs this looks so pretty.  The fabric I chose was of course Riley Blake.  I really loved this fabric and every time I saw it at the quilt shop I would always try to think of what I could make out of it.  I finally decided on this iron caddy.  It has a heat resistant layer so you can put your iron in it hot and just take it on the go.  You can also use it as an ironing pad on a table or something.  How cleaver.  I got the pattern from one of my favorite quilt shops.  The pattern came with the heat resistant fabric.  The pattern was by "Sister's Common Thread".  If you decide to make it I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.  It was fun to make.  It was also fun to have someone to talk to while doing a project cause usually I'm alone.  You can find the pattern here.

Kindle Case Embellishments

I love embellishments.   Anyone who knows me knows that if it is scrapbooking sewing or whatever I love them.  I added my button today.  I went and bought it from one of my favorite fabric stores.   I picked orange because I felt it would add another color into the look of it.  I also loved the flower shape.  I think it may be a Riley Blake button but I am not quite sure.  The other buttons I bought today from the same store were Riley Blake.  Moda and Riley Blake are of some of my favorite fabric lines.

Kindle Fire Cover

 Front

 I decided to do the inside with the blue and white polka dot from this fabric line.

 

 Back

 
I had so much fun making this Kindle cover. It was pretty easy.  I used Berenstain Bears fabric by Moda because I love this fabric line.  I thought that it was so fitting since it was one of my favorite childhood books.  I added the ruffle on the front to make it more girlie.  I saw it on a different tutorial that was more of a slip cover than an open and shut one.  I decided to combine the two a little.  It is all finished except I will add an embellishment on the closure strap.  I decided to sew the velcro on by hand because I hate sewing it on the machine.  I also finished sewing the closure by hand after sewing the strap on because I didn't want to take away from the elastic and I also wanted my stitch hidden.  If you are interested in making this case I got the tutorial from here.  If you want to do the kindle fire with this tutorial then you will need to add about an inch all the way around on your measurements if you are doing 1/4" to 1/2" seam allowance because the Kindle Fire is a little thicker than the other ones.  I ended up having to do a smaller seam allowance.  I measured my Kindle and added an inch but it still just wasn't quite right when you tried to close it so I did unpick it and redo the seam allowance.  I love how it turned out and I am really excited to use it.

If I decide to do a button on the closure what color do you think it should be?  Red, Green, Yellow, Blue, or maybe a wood button??

Learning Resources Froggy Feeding Fun Review & Giveaway

Check this out here. I would be so excited for my kids to be able to play with these type of learning toys.  I love that they make toys that are fun but also tests their knowledge.

ZeroWater Review & Giveaway (2 Winners)

Giveaway at second time around.  The score for the water in our area was 253 but I would love to get one and test my own home.  Go to this site for the giveaway. 

Woodland Tails Giveaway!

Fabric Seeds is doing a giveaway.  Check this out here.   This is an awesome giveaway.  They are also having a sale you should check it out. :)

Self Binding Receiving Blanket

I actually made this receiving blanket for my 8 year old son for his Birthday.  He turned 8 on Sunday.  He had a blanket that he has carried around since he was born and it was starting to fall apart. I wanted him  to be able to save that blanket before it got worse so I made him a new blanket to cuddle.  He loves one because I made it out of flannel.  I hope it will stay soft for him because I know that some flannel gets a weird feeling after being washed.  He actually picked the fabric himself.  He liked the brown monkey fabric so we found a few others to go with it.  I wanted to do something different with the front so I pieced it.  I mixed squares and triangles.  It turned out so cute. I love it.  I used rick rack to hide the edge when I sewed it front to back.  It was the first self binding blanket I have done like this.  It was pretty easy.  I hope the next one turns out a little better on the corners.  I am such a perfectionist that I pick at myself and the little pieces I mess up on but then I don't want to start over so I end up leaving it.  Oh well.  It is so cute.  He loves it so that makes me happy.  I love to make things for people and have them get excited about it.

Cat in the Hat #2 Quilt

I finally made enough progress to blog about. YAY!  I finished the top of the quilt.  I am headed Saturday to my favorite quilt shop to get the fabric to do the back and binding.  I am excited.  I will probably end up hand quilting this one just so it looks a little more like the other one. (Aside from the other one turning pink in the was from the back fabric bleeding)  I can say I am never buying cheap fabric again.  It made me so upset.  I am so afraid of ruining this one.  My son wants me to make him a small carry around quilt with the scraps since the little baby quilt he carries around is starting to fall apart.  We will see if he chooses something else once he goes to the fabric store with me.  I am really excited about this though.  Once I finish this one I can start the one that I will be making for my daughter's bed.  It always seems like I have so many unfinished projects.  Not enough time or energy to go around sometimes.  I get too many ideas for new projects before I am even finished with ones that I am currently working on.  My husband can attest to this.  He probably thinks it is funny also he sees me sometimes bite off more than I can chew.   I love that he is interested in what I do and want to do.  It makes me feel just a little more valuable.

Easter Dresses

A while back I had posted the ruffle skirts that I had made matching for my daughter and I. They turned out so cute.  It was hard to find matching colored shirts.  The ones I found were just a tiny off but it was the closest I could get them.  Here are some pictures I had taken of us wearing them.  I'm just now getting around to getting them on here. :)

Ava Tie Top dress by Izzy& Ivy designs

This dress was fairly easy to make.  I wish I could do reviews on patterns.  This pattern was great because I am a visual learner and it had many sketches for each step.  The only thing I didn't like about the pattern is that when I measured my daughter to cut out the dress there was no way it was going to fit her and I went exactly by their measurements.  I didn't have enough fabric to just start over so I ended up putting panels in both the sides to make it bigger around.  This dress is probably one of my better dresses I have made to this point.  It called for pin tucking at the bottom of the dress.  It was the first time I have attempted that.  I used a cute loopy stitch that was on my machine.  I'm not quite sure it looks exactly straight even though I measured all the way around but it could just be my eyes or a combination of that and the pattern of the fabric.  My pin tucks ended up going up instead of down just because of the stitch I used but that was ok with me because I thought it looked cute.  Overall I am happy with the design of the dress and I LOVE the fabric I used.  I made notes on my pattern for next time so I won't have to add panels.  I won't be going off of their measurements for the main tube part next time.  I love this pattern because it is used for many different sizes and goes from size 2 to a size 12 in girls.  I will be using this again.  I can't wait for her to wear it.

Most Amazing Husband EVER!!

I have the most amazing husband ever.  He has been so sweet to me lately.  Spoiling me a little bit. :)  Yesterday I got 2 surprises from him.......a serger, and a Kindle Fire.  I am so excited to use both.  This year we are coming up on our 10 yr anniversary (in June).  Our relationship has only gotten better with time.  My husband has become such an amazing man.  I couldn't imagine much more change in him.  He is exactly everything I want in a husband.  It is exciting to see our relationship get better and better with age.  It makes me really look forward to all the many years to come with him.  I am so lucky to have him in my life.  He is my everything. Thank you hubby for all that you do for me!!! :)

Vintage Nightgown made with a pillowcase

My husband and I made this together.  It was really fun to make.  It was fun seeing him interested in it and doing so well on it.  I love how it turned out.  How cute you can make a simple pillowcase look.  I used the PDF tutorial off http://gingercake.typepad.com/gingercake/2010/05/pillowcase-nightgowns-free-tutorial.html  This was a really easy tutorial to follow and the shape was perfect.  We tried it on her and she didn't want to take it off.  We are planning on making 5 more like it with different colored pillowcases.  When I was in the process of sewing it and had to try the bodice on her she said "mom this looks a little short".  It was so funny.  When I showed her the finished product she said it was such a pretty dress.  She loves nightgowns and they just fit with her personality.  I love her.  She is such a joy.

Sewing Mayhem

Still working on the Cat in the Hat quilt.  I am making slow progress.  If I just sat and worked on it then I would be able to finish it in a jiffy but I just haven't had the time or motivation to just sit and work on it.  I have made some progress since my last post.  My husband started helping me.  I appreciate him.  He is amazing to me.  It did help things go a little faster to have help with ironing and stuff.  I will be excited to finish this.  Maybe this week I will get the top done.  Hopefully that will happen. lol  K