Double the Joy! It's Twins!

Ahhhhhhhhh! This is the kind of thing that makes creating a gift for someone so worthwhile! These two beautiful little girls are the children of friends of my daughter. Brianna and Mikayla were born six months before my granddaughter and thus they are all wonderful friends. Their mom had mentioned once that she would like "kid size pillows" for these little darlings, and I just couldn't resist. I made them from the most lusciously soft flannel and then embroidered their names on the cuff of each pillow case so they could always recognize their own pillow. These photos just made my day! Sweet dreams, little ones....

Christmas Doll Quilts and Bitty Baby Jammies

Here is my latest completed project, Bitty Baby accessories. I made four pairs of Bitty Baby pajamas and four Bitty Baby sized scrap quilts for my Granddaughter and two nieces (one has twins!). The doll quilts were made from the leftover "bonus" triangles from the Pineapple Blossom Quilt pattern I used to make the HoHoHO Quilt pictured in the previous post. They certainly came in handy! The Bitty Baby pajamas were made from Christmas material I purchased after Christmas last year. I am very pleased with the results and I think that my most favourite girls are going to love these gifts.

Ho Ho Ho Christmas Quilt

Here is my latest completed quilt. I call it my Ho Ho Ho Quilt. I made it with swap blocks from the Penny Pincher 5 Ho Ho Ho block Swap that was held earlier this year at http://www.quilting.about.com/. We used Bonnie Hunter’s Pineapple Blossom quilt pattern, and as luck would have it, I had it quilted by none other than Bonnie Hunter herself. You all know Bonnie – she’s the star of Quiltville Machine Quilting and the Quiltville Blog. It seemed to me to be the natural order of things to have her do the quilting. She used the Whirly Gig pantograph pattern on it and I am very pleased with the end result. I have wanted a Christmas quilt for myself ever since I started quilting, and now I have one! So, let the Holidays begin! I am ready!

Peas and Carrots

Since my darling little Granddaughter moved to the "country" I felt it necessary to outfit her accordingly. I whipped this up last weekend, and must say I am quite pleased with the results. The shirt and overalls came from Old Navy, and the peas embroidery design came from Ann the Grans free design section. The lettering is a built in font in my Janome 11000, and the carrots on the overalls I just drew myself and then appliqued using WonderUnder. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy...

Halloween Bragging Time

Here are some of our kids, all dressed up in costumes they made themselves, getting ready to hit Duval Street for Fantasy Fest 2007 in Key West. I am not kidding, the kids literally made these costumes themselves using the green foam you buy at Joanne Fabrics, PVC pipe, felt, high density foam for facial elements that were then carved with an electric turkey carver, lots of glue, paint, sweat... My only contribution was 50% off coupons for Joannes and I sewed the pant legs, sleeves and hands out of felt they had purchased. I am blown away at how good they are! It wasn't enough that they made Spongebob and Patrick costumes - they then had to make pirate costumes for their costumes! I couldn't be more proud! Oh, and did I mention they are seven foot tall?!!!

Above, from left to right, Kate the Pirate, Justin dressed as Spongebob the pirate, Joseph the Spongebob Security Guard, and Jeremy as Patrick the pirate.

My favorite shot..........

Scrap Bag for Snips and Things

Well, the day finally came when I could no longer tolerate the ziplock bag taped to my sewing table. I used this to conveniently put all those clipped threads, clipped points and the little pieces of tear away stabilizer that we seem to accumulate while sewing. I found a great design that is perfect for the sewing room, grabbed a hunk of old pinwale corduroy, and whipped up the perfect solution for collecting these scraps. I made two straps, put a button hole on the end of each, then I screwed two small screws to the inside of the door, hung the straps on these screws, and Wa-La, I have a new trash bag! I used up an entire hunk of fabric that is probably ten years old and have something to look at that is more pleasing that the ziplock bag taped to the top of my sewing table! I will thin down this stash...I will thin down this stash...

Odds and Ends

Yes, I have actually been sewing up a storm these days. I am using up some fabrics I have had laying about for quite some time, so I feel good about the completed projects. I really need to thin down the stash because my sewing area is microscopic - and I do mean microscopic! Sooo, whining aside, here are a few of the items I completed this week.

First, and probably my favorite, is the Halloween costume for my wonderful nieces American Girl doll. I had this great black velvet, just sitting on a shelf collecting lint, very close to this fancy red silk that seemed to be screaming to line the witch's cape, and Wa-La, you have the perfect costume for a doll!

Second on the list was this bag, also made from the same black velvet, but this is lined with fabric I purchased in New York City that depicts the city in blacks and white. I embroidered a scroll design on the front of each side to spice it up a bit. It is a great pattern from Butterick and I intend to make more bags using some patchwork for one, and brown corduroy for another.

The third project for this week was also for the niece that had received the American Girl costume. She wants to be Dr. Seuss's Thing 1 and to have her little girlfriend be Thing 2 so I made for their costumes embroidered "Thing Emblems". That wasn't good enough for me, so I then made them coordinated Trick or Treat bags. I sure do love my Janome 11000 - it is so easy to embroider and personalize!

The fourth project I can't show you here because it is in a package on its way to Mishicot, WI and I don't want to ruin the surprise, and I know that the recipient reads my blog.... she will just have to wait.