new potholders

I have joined the PP8 (potholder pass 8) swap on flickr and this is why!  :)

These are my potholders.  They are the same ones I have had since my first apartment in college.  Yuk!!  I'm not sure why I haven't just bought a new pair.  I mean, I end up at Target at least once a week!!  Anyway, since I joined the swap I figured I should probably make a practice pair.

I used some scraps that I had left over from this project.  I LOVE this line!!  I had cut into a charm pack and couldn't just toss the little strips that were left over, they ended up being perfect for this project.

I get most of my precuts from my adorable friend Lisa over at Lisa's Stitching Post.  She has a great assortment of precuts at the lowest prices that I have found.  She is usually cheaper than etsy and often has lines that you can't find on etsy anymore.  She still has plenty of the Dream On that I used for these and I know that the layer cakes and jelly rolls are getting hard to find.

I used Oh Fransson's potholder tutorial and really loved it!  I love the pocket on the back so that you can slip your hand in.  I have burned my hand several times using the regular flat potholders so this feature really appealed to me.

I used osnaburg for the neutral and lined it with ta dot in candy.  The binding is ta dot in tangerine.  When I bind small things like this (really anything other than a quilt), I always cut my binding at 2 1/4" instead of 2 1/2".  I just like the look a little more and find that that small change makes a big difference on something of a small size.

Hope everyone had a great long weekend!

chopped veggies

I grew up in Florida and my parents are both native Floridians but this month they bought a new house, in Hawaii!!  Cool, huh!!??  So I felt the need to make my mom something new for her new house!

I have looked at the pattern for the chopped vegetable pillows several times but never really had an excuse to make them.  I'm not making anything nice for my living room until all of my girls are potty trained and I am not so afraid of them destroying everything in their path.  :)

This was the perfect excuse to get Elizabeth's pattern!

I used 3 Amy Butler prints and one of the Amy Butler solids (I think it was called olive).  The neutral is kona in bone.  The pattern has instructions for an invisible and regular zipper closure but I went with an envelope closure instead.  I have really been enjoying the stipple process and so that is what I did on these too.  It is so fast and I love how it looks with all of the piecing.

My mom got them in the mail the other day and was really pleased with them.  She thought the floral print even looks a little Hawaiian!  :)

a winner and a thank you! :)

So, first, I have to say how floored I am by the awesome comments that all of you left!!!  I am so flattered and loved reading every single one of them, all 745!!!  I'm sorry I couldn't reply to each and every one, which I usually do.  THANK YOU so much!!!  I am so looking forward to getting to know all of my new followers too, fun!!
Ok, drum roll, the winner is!!!

which just happens to be...

Congrats Kylee!!!  I am emailing you right now!  :)

sew mama sew giveaway day!!! (now closed)

Yea!  It's sew mama sew giveaway day again!  This time I will be giving away both an item made by me and some fabric!  Woo hoo!!  We all love free fabric, don't we?!  For all of you that are visiting me for the first time, welcome, I'm so glad you are here!!!

Here is the little keychain clutch that I will be giving away.  :)  The pattern is by Keyka Lou and I made the pouch with Amy Butler fabric.

I will also be sending the winner these 7 fat quarters from my shop!!

So, here is what you have to do!

1.)  leave me a comment on this post, that's it!!  Please leave your email in your comment so that I can contact you if you win!!

2.)  for a second chance to win - (because I think my regular readers and those of you that love it here so much that you can't wait to come back, deserve a little something extra!  :)  Become a follower (or if you are already a follower just let me know) and then leave a second comment on this post letting me know that you are a follower of my blog.  Again, please leave your email in your comment.

I will let the random number genie pick a number on May 25th before I go to bed and post the winner the next morning.

I will be happy to ship internationally so that all of you have a chance!!

***the giveaway is now closed!  :(  I will post a winner in the morning!!  Thank you all so very much!!***

for Alabama

Here are all my little bags lined up to be sent to Vanessa!  This was such an easy project and so fun!  I really hope that it will bring a smile to the kid's faces.  They deserve some fun and joy and to just be kids!!

 I didn't want to put my label on these but I thought it may be fun to have a little tag of some type.  I took some pink twill tape that I had and some scraps that were in my trash (they were to skinny to keep), I fused steam a seam to the scraps before cutting them and then fused the scrap to the twill.  

This is what I ended up with and I really like it!  Fun, huh!?

And, just for fun, here are a couple of pictures of the ornamental cherry tree that is in my front yard!  I wait all year for it to bloom!!  Oh, how I love this tree!  :)  It just makes me happy to see all of those beautiful white flowers.  It only looks like this for a little over a week and I just stare at it as much as I can while it is in bloom!

help for Alabama kids

My dear friend Vanessa lives in Alabama.  Part of her state and many other states suffered severe damage during the tornados and storms that passed through last month.  Vanessa is trying to bring a little joy to the children of the area that lost everything!!!  I think we should help her!!  :)

She is asking for those of us that sew, to make simple drawstring bags and fill them with goodies.  Crayons, markers, stickers, coloring books, you get the idea!  :)  Items are needed for both boys and girls and to span several age groups.  These kids just need something fun in their lives right now and I know that we are the ladies that can help!!!  If you don't sew but would still like to help I am sure she would love for you to just send art supplies.

photo courtesy of LBG studio

photo courtesy of LBG studio

I am headed to get a few supplies today so I will be back with some easy ideas that I have in my noggin. Vanessa also has a lot of great ideas to get you started so hop over to Vanessa's blog to see her full plan.

sherbet pips quilt

I finally finished my pips quilt this week!  I love it!  The colors in this line are so fantastic.  It is perfectly crinkly after washing and so soft.  

The pattern is by Camille Roskelley for her thimble blossoms line and is called jelly filled.   

I used kona ash for the inner border and hop dot in cherry for the outer borders.  I had binding in the ash all cut out but just wasn't feeling it so I switched to bliss dots in red.  I am really glad that I did because they look great with the pips and the hop dot!  

I have made 3 of Camille's patterns and really love them!!  They are modern but timeless and lend well to so many styles of fabric.  They are well written and easy to follow even for an inexperienced quilter like me.  

I stippled this quilt, it was only the second time that I have ventured into free motion quilting.  This time was so much better than the first.  There are still a lot of little flaws but they weren't so bad that I felt like I had to pick stitches out and start over!  :)  The girls are really loving snuggling under the "puppy blanklet!!"

new gadget

My adorable husband got me an iPad 2 for my birthday and, of course, I had to make a cover for it!  Jeannie sent me the link to this tutorial.  I love the patchwork and knew I wanted to use some of the dream on charm pack that I bought forever ago!  I love that line and the vintage sheet feel of it!  So happy! The rest is osnaburg, can't get enough of this stuff!!  :) 

The only alteration I made to the pattern was to use a velcro tab closure instead of a zipper.  I made a 5"x5" square (just right sides together with a layer of fusible fleece) and then just scooted it down into the position I wanted it.  I probably trimmed about 2" off of it when all was said and done.  I added the velcro after the entire thing was finished to ensure that the placement was correct.  

The cover does not fit as snugly as I would like but it does the job of keeping my new toy protected when I put it in my bag!!  :)