Hope (WIP) and I know you're not a robot, but...

I have big, big plans for this HOPE block.  And I hope to share them with you soon!


In a complete change of topic... is anyone else getting bombarded with "anonymous" and irrelevant comments on their blog?  I got 18 of them yesterday, 16 the day before.... I keep marking them as Spam and deleting them, but they just keep coming.  I know you're not a robot and I don't want to add word verification for commenting on my posts... but it's becoming a full time job to remove them all.  Anyone have an idea how to stop this?

~*~ May your day be full of Love and Ladybug Hugs ~*~

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kat ~

Itty Bitties

After completing 3 quilts (Hexie Hearts, Owl Applique and Elephant Parade), in a matter of a few weeks, I realized how quickly all those "small projects" pile up.  Wow, is my list long!!  I was also out of town all of last weekend until late Tuesday night, so limited sewing time this week.  I did, however, manage to complete a few small things.

This is a crib skirt for my sister's nursery.  It matches the window valances I already made for her.  It's for a baby boy's room and I don't have a crib in my house anymore... so you'll need to use your imagination and pretend this isn't on a pink bed.

This is a mermaid tail tu-tu.  And it's for me.  Crazy much, Kat???

I'll be away again this weekend... this time at Disney World... where I'll be running my very first half marathon!  It's the Disney Princess Half, so costumes are encouraged.  I opted for Ariel.  Well, as much as possible while running 13.1 miles.

Here are two small items I made with my new toy.  I'm not sure what they'll end up as, but they were fun to make!  

Note to self: Ironing this embroidery will cause terrible puckers.  *sigh*

~*~ May your day be full of Love and Ladybug Hugs ~*~

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kat ~

Baby Project Updates

I'm back home in Florida now, where 61 degrees feels SO nice!  Last week I would have complained that it was too cold but after spending 4 days in single digit wind chills in New York, it feels glorious!

Since I've been away for 4 days, I only have 1 new WIP... a crib skirt for my sister's nursery, to match the window valances I made for her (and delivered to New York) this past weekend.

Here is the start of the crib skirt.

Here are a few "before" and "after" shots of her nursery (formerly guest room), which we worked very hard on all weekend.  I think it looks amazing!

BEFORE

AFTER

You can see one of the window valances I made.

I'll be making a crib skirt to match, as well as a quilt for the crib.

AFTER - The Monkey Wall

BEFORE

AFTER - The play corner

Don't you think a play mat / quilt would look great in front of those little cubbies?

The toy box under the window belonged to my sister's husband when he was a little boy.

This is my sister's favorite monkey from "the monkey wall."

He'll be showing up again in some future projects :-).

I think this little guy may make another appearance, too!

My sister does *not* like to have her photo taken, but I had to throw in a picture of the Mommy-To-Be.  You can see that Rupert is very interested in checking out the new crib.

And last but *certainly* not least.... I got to deliver Baby Jacob's Elephant Parade Quilt in person while I was in New York.  He wasn't interested in opening his eyes for this photo, but he sure looks adorable snoozing on his new quilt.

~*~ May your day be full of Love and Ladybug Hugs ~*~

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kat ~

Small Project Monday --- Nursery Window Valance

I spent this weekend in New York having a "girls weekend" with my baby sister and my mom.  We're decorating the nursery for my future nephew, who is due in May.  It was a last-minute trip but I missed my sister so much that I gave up a long weekend with my new toy (embroidery machine... oh, and also my husband and kids...) to come hang out with her. Yup, I love her that much!  :-)

I had already planned to make the window valances, crib skirt and quilt, though the shower isn't until late March so I thought I had time.   I decided to quickly make the valances to bring with me, so the nursery would start to look complete.

Here's one of them, hanging in my bedroom doorway before I came to New York (from Florida).  Convenient that her windows are the same size as my door, don't you think?  This guy has a twin and the bed skirt will be similar.

The green is yardage from Joann's and the polka dots came from this sheet set:

The elephant portion of those sheets became a different quilt for a different new baby boy.

~*~ May your day be full of Love and Ladybug Hugs ~*~

Thanks for stopping by! 

~ Kat ~

Owl Quilt -- Complete!

Last week I finished up a quilt for my younger daughter (Jessica) for Valentine's Day.  Of course, I had to make one for her big sister, too!  You can read this post to see how it started.  Here are some photos of how it finished:

It measures 45" x 58" after washing.

Close-ups of the quilting (photos below taken prior to washing/drying):

 

All of the owl sections got a wavy FMQ pattern.

The thin column got leaves and the pink part of the owl got a small squiggle.  I used pink thread on the entire quilt, except the black background around the owl.  (I used black for that.)

The pink sections all have flowers.  I need more practice, but this was probably my favorite of all the designs I tried out on this quilt.

Purple sections got scallops.  Well, that's what they were supposed to be, anyway.  Not a fan of this one.... though I might still try it again, taking my time a little more next go-round.

Blue sections got wavy lines.  I was OK with them when I was pushing the fabric away from me, but they don't look as smooth when I was pulling the fabric towards me.

This is my 2nd attempt at squares.  (I'm not even going to show the 1st attempt -- it's that bad!)  Note to self: You will probably never be able to do a straight line with anything other than a walking foot.  Stop trying.  

Final attempt at squares.  I gave up and used my walking foot.  Even then, my lines still aren't straight.  Oh well.... live and learn!

I wrote "Mommy loves Rachel" on this, in the best "handwriting" I could muster on my Singer.

"Mommy loves"

"Rachel"

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Linking up with:
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for "Whoop Whoop Friday"

Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts for "Finish it up Friday"

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~*~ May your day be full of Love and Ladybug Hugs ~*~

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kat ~

The 3 F's of Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!!  My maiden name is Valentine so like it or not, this holiday is a *BIG* deal in my house!  My husband (who knows me SOOO very well --- I guess that's what happens when you've been together 17+ years!) got me the greatest gifts ever --- flowers, fuzzy sweat pants, new running clothes and a very nice gift card to Joann Fabrics.  Woo Hoo!  My girls made my morning by not fighting over the TV, eating their breakfast and getting dressed on time, without me have to ask more than once.  Love them!  

This year, I've got 3 F's for Valentine's Day ---- a Fire, a Finish, and some Fun!

First, the Fire.... Any mom can tell you that a call from an unknown phone number which turns out to be your 9-year-old saying, "Don't worry, Mom, we're OK, but...." is never a good thing.  Long story short, there was an engine malfunction on their school bus on the way home.  Jessica (my 6 year old) was in the back of the bus (near the engine) and it took a little while for her to make it out.  Rachel (the 9 year old) was near the front but refused to get off the bus until Jessica reached her.  By the time I reached them (they were only 1 mile away, in a parking lot with several police offices, firemen and school officials), my heart was beating out of my chest and it was all I could do not to break down when I saw my little one in tears.  We are all OK now, but I'll need a bottle of hair color to take care of all the gray hair that just showed up.

Next, the Finish.... Elephant Parade is complete!  It's a dreary day outside today so these (incredibly shadowy, poorly lit) photos are from inside.  Blogger also insists that two of them be upside down and I'm just not in the mood to argue today.  (This post talks about where those elephant pieces came from.)

This quilt is for my sister's BFF, who had her 3rd baby (5 weeks early, but healthy!) last month.

I quilted each section with matching thread.  I didn't quilt inside the ears.

(I know I posted this same photo yesterday, but it shows the colors a little better.)

In case you don't feel like standing on your head to read this, it says "Jacob."

I quilted densely around the letters and numbers but not inside them, so they "pop" a little bit.

And now, at long last, the moment we all (OK, maybe just me) have been waiting for.... the FUN!!  After finishing up the binding on Elephant Parade last night, I opened up my new Brother PE770 embroidery machine, which has been taunting me patiently waiting for me in the box since it arrived on Monday night.  I was too impatient to assemble stabilizer and fabric, so I used the first piece of pre-quilted stuff I could find.  Here's what I made, in honor of Valentine's Day.  (It's also a pretty good description of how I feel about my new toy!)

This will probably end up as a little zippered pouch.  It's not centered perfectly on the quilting lines (I really wasn't trying, so I guess it's not too far off for not paying attention to that), but I still love it.  I have many, many big plans for this machine!  :-)

As always.... 

~*~ May your day be full of Love and Ladybug Hugs (and hopefully also chocolate!) ~*~

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kat ~

Elephant Parade (WIP) and a New Toy

This is what I really need to finish:

Because this is what I really want to start!

Elephant Parade just needs a binding, hoping I can get that done tonight.  I promised myself that I would not open the "toy box" until the elephants were complete.  

What are you working on this week?

~*~ May your day be full of Love and Ladybug Hugs ~*~

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kat ~

Small Project Monday --- Plastic Bag Holder

I've got a bunch of quilts in varying stage of completion but I decided to take a little time out to make a project I could start and finish very quickly.  This is a plastic bag holder which will hang on the doorknob of my kitchen pantry (even though it does look nice on the tree).

I used a tutorial from the Moda Bake Shop.  The "recipe" calls for 16 charm squares @ 5" each, but I had a few already cut to 4", so I used 25 @ 4" instead.  Mine ended up a teeny bit smaller than the pattern since I had one extra seam in each direction, but for something like this, I don't think it matters.

All the fabrics came from my stash.  I practiced some curly, meandering FMQ.  I made the entire project in just over an hour.  I used grosgrain ribbon for my hanger, which you can see on the left side in the photo below.

~*~ May your day be full of Love and Ladybug Hugs ~*~

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kat ~

Hexie Hearts -- Complete!

This quilt will be a Valentine's Day gift for my younger daughter, Jessica.

I made this with 48 lazy hexagons (no papers) using novelty prints from my stash.  There are two of each fabric so it's a combination of "I Spy" and "Matching Game."  Each hexagon is 5.5" tall (top to bottom) and 3.25" down a diagonal side.  After washing, the quilt measures approx 44.5" wide and 55" tall.

Jessica's favorite colors are orange and purple (together.... I know....). I appliqued the hexie heart to an orange print fabric and quilted it with orange thread. Though it hurt me a little to do so, I bound it in (gulp!) purple.

My FMQ is a swirly, loopy, pattern-less meander.

I pieced light orange (from the front) and a darker orange print to make the back.

I just love how quilts crinkle up after a wash and a dry!

I used loops to hold down the edges of the hexies.

(This photo is prior to washing.)

I attempted a flower.  I need more practice :-)

My FMQ handwriting is not great (it's really hard to do on my home machine!) but I wrote "Mommy loves Jessica" in the quiltling.  Can you see it up there?

"Mommy"

"loves"

"Jessica"

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Linking up with:
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict for "Whoop Whoop Friday"

Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts for "Finish it up Friday"

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~*~ May your day be full of Love and Ladybug Hugs ~*~

Thanks for stopping by!

~ Kat ~