Race totes!!

A special request for four sisters who really love the Indy 500!  Predominately checkered, I worked in a few colors representing other race flags and lending to a personal touch for each sister, including their name embroidered inside one of the straps.

Here they are all ready for pickup!

Baby Lock Crown Jewel II

I finally did it - with more than a little encouragement from the hubby, I bought a long arm quilter with frame.  I did stop short of the robotics and software. The original plan is/was to upgrade to that a year or two, forcing me to learn how to use this from the ground up.  But I am having so much fun with it as is, I may just forget the robotics.  We'll see!

I've been practicing on scrapes and on the Row by Row Experience Quilt that's been sitting around two years now. This week I decided time to put it all together.  I purchased a "Layer Cake" of Moda fabric called ""Reel Time by Zen Chic". On Tuesday I pieced together this quilt top:

And a few days later, I quilted it with the Baby Lock Crown Jewel II - so much fun!  Look close enough and you'll see many "mistakes" but I'm a beginner and it's not going to any contest.  From a distance as a whole, I think it looks so cool. And incredibly in just a couple of days, I have a finished lap quilt.  That's so cool! 

Memory Bears #2 & 3

 
Grandson #2 - still just an infant, he has grown so fast I was able to snatch up three itty-bitty sleepers and get this one made up for him right away!  (the weird looking tan on the bear's feet is my attempt at removing any identifying features in the photo - his name is on the left foot and his DOB on the right - same goes for the girly bear below....).




And #3 - a little girl - isn't she sweet? This was made for a friend whose granddaughter just turned 1!  I loved the animal print but it was just one little pair of pants so not a lot to go around. I was afraid with just the outer legs, it would look out of place. Adding the heart and the bow helped to unify it and make it look a part of the whole. 

A Little Monster....

Pinterest is a great place to gather/store inspiration.  One problem with it, however, is quite often the links become broken.  I saw these really cute Monster Bibs on Pinterest and added it to one of my board, but when ready to make the bib, I was unable to follow the link to a tutorial or pattern or anything.  I tried a Google search but that resulted in so many more images of bibs like this, eh....   I just winged it and came up with this beauty!  Isn't it adorable?

Garden Flags

I picked a poor background to photograph these - these are two "garden flags" for the chamber auction in early November.  

A fun evening of making baby bibs!

The baby (grandson number 2) is just starting cereals, so mommy wants a few bibs and can't find the ones from older brother.   "Not many, just 6-10" she said. Last night I had a wonderful time sewing up these five!  

I just love these fabric.  So bright and cheerful.  I took two separate fat quarter bundles -one of flannel material for the backs of the bibs, and one of cotton quilting fabric for the fronts of these bibs. Not of related fabric lines, I thought they worked together very nicely.  Still plenty of fabric left for other small projects.  Tonight I'll pick a couple to make what the daughter called a "suck pad" -it wraps around the carrier straps that baby's like to chew/suck on while being "worn" by mommy ( just google "baby wearing" - it's such a big deal among young parents, there's even a non-profit organization dedicated to it-I had no idea.) 

I had a Single fat quarter of the Halloween fabric and used another of the flannel pieces for the back of it.  I just love Halloween - and they'll get nearly two months of use out of it before Halloween passes.

And I saw this really cute bandana/recycled blue jean material bib online.  I did it slightly different - I like mine better.  But I don't think we'll get the full effect until a washing or two when the fabric frays a bit.

Tried my hand at an iPad cover....

Not too bad for a first attempt. I modified a pattern -typical me- wanted to cut less and sew fewer seams - I made the lining one piece the same size as the outer fabric -the patterns called for three pieces.  Of course when it came to sewing in some elastic pieces I understood why they had those pieces and seams - yes, I did look over all instructions before starting, but I still thought I knew better and could figure it out.  Not a real big deal, just a little less neat on the inside.  I love it, even so.