Isabella's quilt

So rewind to when Bella was turning one. This was her gift from me. An absolutely delicious  star quilt from Denyse Schmidt's Chicopee line. I pinned this one and couldn't get it out of my head (  apparently it isn't her original idea either) But who ever came up with it was genius! I LOVE it.

 It is a generous double size quilt

 And hand quilted in a purl cotton. 

 Bella still hasn't used it (or the peacock quilt for that matter) but they are both in her room. I am sure she will use the peacock one when we get her in her own room (right now the kids share a room). The kids literally have loads of handmade blankets so I don't feel too bad saving some of them for when they don't have to be washed at least once a week... They love all of their blankets. Infact they know whose are whose and do not want to share them.... 

 Someday soon this will be gorgeous on her bed. 

And a little bit of one year old Bella... in some adorable oliver and s shorts made by mom... which we probably never blogged. I actually spent yesterday going through all of Bellas handmade baby stuff for a cousin that will be arriving in December... and unfortunately I don't think we blogged most any of them.

Time sure is flying by!  

Baby Star Quilt

This 'little' guy is also up in the shop. People need to have more babies... small quilts are so fun to make! 

Initial Love

 I decided it would be fun to add a little decoration to the kids doors.

So I picked up giant letters at Joanns the other day and covered them in some Denyse Schmidt fabric I had at the house alla the Anthropologie style I've seen about on Pinterest. I used an interfacing under the fabric to get rid of the cardboard look and opted for grosgrain ribbon on the side instead of wrapping the fabric. Instant gratification is awesome I barely do any projects that take just a few minutes and glue!  

Gratuitous Micah shot... he does have other clothes it just so happens I did all of my picture taking the same afternoon... and he's such a ham I had to share a few! Also the pink on his face is strawberries which he stole off his Dad's birthday cake... 

Miniature Pillow

Micah recently decided that he enjoys sleeping on a pillow.... he's not at all opinionated-- and no I have no idea where he gets it from. 

So being the awesome super on top of it Mom that I am (hahaha) I found a small 12"x17" pillow form at Joanns... it's super comfortable I think I spent the same $ on my pillow... ridiculous

So of course the miniature pillow needed a miniature pillow case. I just happened to have some of Denyse Schmidt's Joann's line that goes perfectly with his quilt... every time I see this pattern at the store I want to buy more of it... 

 Uber said he hasn't been laying on it at night : ( but he actually slept later than me this morning and I went to check on him and he was all cute and asleep on it. I tried to get a picture but I ended up just waking him up... ugh!

Hand Towels

What have I been doing you ask? (Or maybe you didn't.... )

I've been busy with this and that. 

Messing around with some other stuff...

It's just that blogging about it has seemed a bit beyond my capabilities lately. 

Sorry.

 In an effort to kick-start myself back into gear, I am sharing a couple of hand towels I made from a 

Denyse Schmidt fabric (DS03pineywoods) that I stole from Jessica.

 I embellished them with mini pom-pom trim and rick-rack.

Shown hanging from my new hooks courtesy of the clearance bin at our local Anthro store. There were three,  none exactly the same color. I guess that's why no one wanted them?

 Made me happy.

Didn't mean to be gone so long

It was a long week. It was a good week. It was a not so good week. For those of you who dropped by Wednesday after seeing me here and here thank you! I was hard at work getting more things done but was having some difficulty getting things photographed and posted.

Thank goodness for weekends.

I am not a sports fan but when the world cup happens and the weather is good, it's fun to go sit outside and watch a game or two. It's fun to watch people get crazy. Seriously crazy. This place is a short walk from our apartment. I'll miss it.

 I've had this toile for years (thanks Sherie). I'd been wanting to make it into a skirt but was having trouble thinking of a shirt I had to wear with it. Kelly wore her Cabo halter last week and a light went on. I made mine with Kona Cotton in a shade of blue that I've forgotten.
The skirt is Simplicity 8664. I did a bias trim for the hem because I cut it a bit shorter than I meant to. Mistake? Opportunity?
This detail is around the top of the skirt. I pulled the facing up just enough to make it look like cording. It may never be seen but I know it's there and I like it! By the way, I used my ever quickly dwindling supply of Wonder Tape for both zipper applications. The skirt was a sort of lapped version ( sorry totally meant to take a close up) and the shirt has an invisible zip. It was wonderful for both. Seriously, as Jess said, it changes lives. Well, mine anyway.

Three more of the shirred skirts. Two for Jess, one for me. Hers are out of Hope Valley by Denyse Schmidt and mine is Pastry Line voile from Anna Maria Horner.

Last and maybe least is a project that turned out differently than I had planned. Not bad, just different. I took a tank cut it off and attached the voile skirt. I did five rows of shirring around the bodice and skirt to give it a more fitted look. If I had a garden, this would be my gardening dress. Right now I have scaffolding, a dying rose and soon to be very, very bright yellow walls outside.

Dear Summer,

Please stay through August, I have a new top to share with you! Yes, it's the smocked dress from Weekend Sewing adapted for me. I used a bit of my stash of Katie Jump Rope by Denyse Schmidt. I was fun to make ( thanks for the tips Jennifer), it's comfortable and I really like it.

I finally finished binding this quilt. I started it only 5 months ago. After sewing on the binding on, it took 7 more hours to complete the hand sewing. I timed it. I used a free pattern from AMH and the fabric line, Metro Blue Goes Green.

I really liked sleeping under it last night.

~

More later.