Monday Moments

Have I ever mentioned that my son loves my sewing machine? Just from watching me (and his sister) he lifted the foot on his own, put the fabric down and lowered the foot again. He likes to adjust the speed control and occasionally I will turn it down as low as it can go and let him operate the foot pedal. He also knows what a bobbin is, though not what it's for. Maybe in the future I will have two sewing children in my house.

Puppy Love

She looks so cute and sad, doesn't she?



In the event that the purple polka dots weren't enough to jog your memories this is the Valentine's gift (with cupcake applique) that I posted a preview pic of last week.

I have used this pattern a few times before, so you may recognize it. I first made one as a baby gift for my nephew, then his big sister got jealous and had to have her own. Now their baby sister needs one too.

I thought the puppy initially made the perfect baby gift because my sister had decided on a puppy themed shower. I made decorations and cookies in the shape of dog bones and had to order custom birthday invitations with all of the wording changed to fit a baby shower because nothing was available.

Of course, today I got this e-mail advertising all new puppy themed baby shower decor and favors. Thanks! Too late!

Seriously though, I love Simply Baby Stuff. We ordered the Who Smells the Stinky Doo? game for my oldest niece's baby shower five years ago and it was hilarious to watch people sniffing their cards. They really are a fun site, and would have saved me so much work if they had only come up with the puppy idea sooner!

Sewing school

Two weeks ago I started my step-daughter on the basics of sewing. She's really eager to learn and just like the me she has ideas about her next two projects before she's done with the current one.

Her first finished project was supposed to be a blanket for her current favorite stuffed animal. She had told me she wanted patches, so I grabbed a piece of notebook paper and drew a basic 9 patch and said, "Like this?"

I was far off. She drew her own blanket with five patches randomly strewn throughout it. Without teaching her applique (she's not quite ready for stitching that shows yet!) I cobbled together a rough pattern based on her drawing.



She finished sewing it together and decided it looked more like a pillow. So I got out my bag of stuffing and she got to work.



Look at how well these matched up! She's still learning though, and some lessons are coming harder than others. I pinned something for her and she got tired of fiddling with all of the pins so she took them out all at once. She wasn't too pleased with her "shortcut" when she had to redo half of her sewing because her two pieces weren't even together.

She's really enthusiastic about making things and I'm loving that she's learning some life lessons right along with her new skill.

Monday Moments: Tuesday Edition

This is the only picture with a child in it I have taken in the last week. It has been bitter cold here so no playing outside and no sledding. There have been moments, but not many photo ops.

I have another photo taken this same night where you can see my entire unmade bed and just out of reach are the pajama pants we laid him down in. He took them off, trying to convince us that we should put him back in the bath to play, then fell asleep waiting on someone to follow through with his idea.

More baskets

It's the end of Challenge week! I finished my goal of completing my 12 basket blocks, plus made two more!



I got my 12 baskets done and needed one more to fill out the layout, but the only prints I hadn't used were the laurel dots. I wasn't sure which one, if any, would work well so I made one of each.



This did not make the cut. However, when I showed my progress to my husband he suggested I make it bed sized since I had so much fabric left. I'm a lot nervous about farming out my quilting...so I haven't decided yet what to do.

Sweet giveaway

This is just a tiny little peek at a Valentine's gift I've been asked to make. I am loving how it is turning out! And look at that cute loopy stitch my new machine can do. Too bad I still had to do the French knots by hand.

Speaking of gifts, if you'd like to enter to win your own $50 gift certificate to the Fat Quarter Shop, Suzannah at Adventures in Dressmaking is holding a giveaway right now! Who can resist the chance at free fabric?

Yo-yo

Can you believe I'd never made a yo-yo until last week? It seems like such a sewing and quilting staple, and they're so easy!

My mother-in-law bought nearly every Clover yo-yo maker there is for my step-daughter for Christmas along with a few Indygo Junction patterns because she knew it would be a simple place to start. Victoria sewed one of these, I did the rest. I had to do at least one to explain how to make them to her, but the pattern called for so many! I picked up the needle and thread and made a few more just to help her out.

Of course, I'm working on my own projects this week (these are not for the basket blocks, but they do look kind of cute there), but I'm thinking about working a yo-yo into my next project.