Latest projects...

Here are a few of the projects that I've been working on over the last few days....

I got the pattern for this skirt for $0.99!!!! It was normally 16.95, but all McCall's patterns were on sale for 99 cents - what a steal! I already had the green fabric and just had to get the brown for the trim, so this is my $2 skirt. I'll be honest - this is probably the most detailed pattern that I've ever followed - complicated pleats, a zipper, lined waistband, pockets, etc. but it was worth it - I'm so excited to wear it......now I just need a shirt to go with it :-)

I know - it feels like you've seen this quilt before. This is the second one, and for the most part, I like it better. I think that the blocks on the quilt are a little bit more randomly spaced and I love the silky pink binding. I got much better at my machine quilting, but unfortunately I didn't check my bobbin first and the bottom looks a little bit crazy. Overall it turned out fairly well, but I think I'll give this one to Project Linus and the first one to Courtney for her baby shower.

I even figured out how to miter the corners pretty well!


Here's what the quilting looks like on the front:

And here's what it looks like on an acceptable piece of the back:

So I've seen these cute baby wipes cases all over the internet and have been dying to make one. Alas, I have no use for a baby wipes case, but I made one that matches the quilt for Courtney and another one just for fun. I'm sure I'll find someone to give it to soon being that I have TONS of friends who are pregnant right now.

Next on the crafting agenda: Covers for our dutch ovens, basket liners for some decorative baskets in our laundry room, that cute apron from the last post, the list goes on and on!

Happy crafting!!!

I REALLY WANT TO MAKE THIS!!!!

It is the CUTEST reversable apron that there ever was! If you want to buy the pattern for me, you can get it here. I have to go to a conference all next week, so you have plenty of time to order it and have it shipped to me in time for me to start on it next weekend :-). If you are feeling really generous, you could also buy me some cute fabric for it here. Thanks in advance - you're the best!

If you're also of the crafty inclination - check out the whole new section of links that I added on the right-hand side of the blog titled "Fun Blogs". There are TONS of crafty and fun blogs that have totally consumed my weekend and given me SO many ideas to fill my summer with. Enjoy!

Another post.....so soon???

I think the best motivation for me to post is when I have something to post!!!! Now that I'm off of school I've been feeling very crafty (as you could probably tell from the last post).

I have a good friend who is having a baby soon and I wanted to make her a baby quilt. I went to the store and picked out the fabric (actually Moose picked out the fabric - strangely enough he has a great eye for fabric) and when I got home and pieced it together, I realized that I had enough to make 2 crib-sized quilts. I was really excited about this because my stake is doing "Project Linus". They have challenged every woman and young woman in the stake to make a blanket (any kind of blanket) to donate to a foundation that gives the blankets to really sick kids. The extra blanket that I'm making will not only go to Project Linus, but it will serve as my practice for the one I'm making for my friend. YEAH!!
Although I have done lots of sewing in my day, there were a few things that I did on this blanket that I've never done before, so I was a little bit nervous. The first was the binding. I've made a few other blankets, but my super-crafty mom has always done the binding for me because I was so intimidated by it. Sadly, I live way to far from my mom to get her to do the binding for me, so I was on my own. While the corners aren't perfect, I think they turned out pretty good.
The next thing was actually quilting it. I have always wanted to machine quilt instead of just tying the quilt. My new sewing machine has a free-motion quilting function that I tried out. It was really fun, but I learned a few lessons. The first is that it takes a lot of patience. The second is that I need to draw the pattern before I start. Randomly creating a pattern was fun, but doesn't look quite as professional as it could. Here's the finished product for Project Linus. I'll let you know how the quilt for Courtney looks when I finish it.

This is the back

This is the front.

I know that you can't really see the machine quilting, but that's probably better since it's not perfect. When I do Courtney's I'll take a close-up of the quilting.

What we've been up to....

It's been a long time since I posted! I'm out of school now, so I've had much more time to lounge around and scheme up projects for myself. Moose has started a new job, but the training aspect of it hasn't been full time so we've enjoyed spending a lot of time together this week. We're on a mission to go through all of our stuff and de-junk our house. How did 2 people wind up with so much stuff? Anyway, we've already taken one trip to DI and plan to take a few more. We spent a leisurely morning at the pool on Friday and both wound up with sunburns - looks like we're not made for sunbathing. We've also been trying our hand at some new things around the house. Here are a few pictures:
Homemade bagels. They're not the prettiest bagels I've even seen, but they were fun to make and even more fun to eat!

I made some new pillows for our living room couches. We love curling up on the couch and watching our favorite shows, so our pillows get quite a workout. These are cute, eh?

I used some of the old scrapbooking paper that I had on hand to cover this old box to help organize some of my craft supplies. I'm so excited to have time to be crafty this summer! I already have about 10 projects on my list. I'll post them as they are finished.
This wasn't a very exciting post, but at least it was a post. I'll try to be better now that I'm not so busy with school.