Monthly Archives: May 2014

Sunday Stash #1 • 6 Comments

sarah • May 11, 2014

Happy Mother's Day.

I started surfing on Sunday Stash posts in March. I find it fascinating to see the fabric that is purchased by others. It really tells you something about a person's style to see what fabrics they are drawn to. I have been drooling over the fabric purchases of others, so here goes... my first Sunday Stash post. I don't think I shop often enough to post EVERY Sunday (though I guess I have a fair amount of fabric in my possession to draw from as well), so I'll spread out some of my most recent purchases. Starting with some of my very most recent acquisitions.

First, here's my first purchase that was inspired by seeing it on someone else's Sunday Stash post. ~~I'm bummed that I can't figure out where I saw it. I just remember that it was someone who blamed another Sunday Stash poster for showing it to her.~~ Update: Lori found me! Here's here stash building post from March over at Crossquilt. :-) These are Polka Dot Stitches by Bee in My Bonnet for Riley Blake Designs, Words in Red and Gingham in Red. I ordered from Quilt Essentials on etsy and it came in this cute little bag:

I have a gift in mind with this lovely fabric.

Onto another pile of fabric, ordered from Hawthorne Threads. I have always loved the Urban Zoologie line. I have a piece of Owl fabric in my stash that I just serged the edges of and used as a table runner for an owl themed brunch last year and I used the Dinosaurs fabric to make an apron for my nephew. In general, I have to restrain myself from buying Urban Zoologie fabrics. However, The Girl is having a bug themed 2nd birthday party ("ladybugs. bees. butterflies. dragonflies." if you ask her) this month and I decided the adorable Urban Zoologie Ladybugs were the right call for making an outfit for her. The Turtles? They were a completely unrelated splurge. No plan for them. They're just so cute!

So, I decided I'll go with a top made in the Ladybugs and some kind of coordinating fabric for pants. Here are the options (left to right, Riley Blake's Medium Chevron in Red and Black, Lizzy House's Pearl Bracelet in Chat Noir, Michael Miller's Chevy in Rouge and Robert Kaufman's Spot On in Red)... what do you think? (I realize now that I should have shot that in reverse, with the ladybugs on top and the pants options on bottom.)

Clearly I was into fun, novelty prints that day... Here are a couple others I picked up.

Ed Emberley Octopus in Deep Blue. Can you even stand how cute these guys are? And the Ed Emberley stuff is so nostalgic for me. I LOVED his drawing books as a kid.

These three are Amy Schimler's Jungle Creatures: Zeal of Zebras in Bright, Jungle Dots in Red, and Elephant Parade in Bright. I'm thinking a kids quilt, but who knows.

Lastly, I've kinda become a collector of Halloween fabrics. I love the oranges, purples and greens you often see. I have serious plans for an awesome Halloween quilt one of these days. I thought the Spook Crew were too cute to pass up and I loved the coordinating Spook Stars in Orange. Bonus, they were on sale.

I'm happy to report that the Ladybugs and coordinating red and black fabrics have all been prewashed and ironed and I'm ready to start cutting out pieces in the morning. Stay tuned for progress on the party outfit... I have 14 days. ;-) Thanks for taking a look! If you aren't already a subscriber, please join us by subscribing at the top right.

I linking up to the Sunday Stash post hosted by Em at Sewing by Moonlight.

Quick Mother’s Day Craft

sarah • May 9, 2014

Mother's Day is on Sunday. The Girl's 2nd birthday is the following Saturday. In searching for party stuff for her bug themed party, I ran across these cute hand print butterflies and decided I'd make them for the grandmothers for Mother's Day. We actually made three sets, so I can have one and it can be used to decorate for the party.

All in all this was fast and easy. I used washable tempera paint and a paintbrush to coat the hand/foot. I realized early on that I needed the kid to relax and let me move their limb (and it was much easier on a nearly 4 year old than a nearly 2 year old). Then during nap time I cut out all the hands and cut the bodies out of black construction paper. The Girl woke up before I was finished, so she supervised my gluing of the pieces and attachment of the pipe cleaner antennae. And she helped adhere the googly eyes.

Lots of smudges with The Girl's hands (in red) so we did a bunch of extras.

I'll label with back with the year and whose hands are whose. The Girl's are red and The Boy's are blue, but you could just as easily use two sets of the same kid's hands to make them.

I finished those yesterday, but I hadn't used the footprints yet so I was inspired to make a dragonfly with The Girl's footprints. More decorations for the bug themed birthday party in two weeks. (Maybe he needs googly eyes, too.) I plan to fashion a ladybug out of The Boy's red footprints.

We also had time this morning to make paper plate butterflies. Super easy for any age! We used the dot markers, but you could just as easily use paint, crayons, markers, stickers, etc. Once the plate was decorated I cut it in half using a wiggly line and glued it together. I think I'll include stuff to make these on the craft table for the party.

Throwback Thursday: Paper-pieced “Ribbit” Quilt • 6 Comments

sarah • May 8, 2014

I finished this one up just in time for it to hang in the SCVQA Quilt Show in early 2013. It was pieced many years before that using paper piecing. The back has my maiden name, so I must have had the quilt sandwich done in early 2009 at the latest. I didn't free motion quilt yet, so then it just sat around waiting for me to learn that skill. ;-)

I think this was the first quilt that I entirely free motion quilted. I stippled on a medium-large scale over the majority of the quilt and decided to do something a little fancier for the border, using Leah Day's Modern Art free motion filler for the border pattern. It was a little tricky, but I love it!