Disappearing 9 Patch

I told you it was coming!

I have been dreaming of this disappearing nine patch quilt since the last Blogger's Quilt Festival where I saw so many beautiful ones. I bought a charm pack of reproduction shirting prints and combined it with anything that looked anything like it could have been a shirting from my stash.



I had originally fallen in love with versions of this quilt that used no discernible layout whatsoever, but when I tried throwing my crazy mix of prints together randomly it just didn't look right. All of the busy needed some serious organization to tone it down. When I started laying the blocks out in the typical way, I started falling in love with my own version.

To date, I think this is the biggest and prettiest quilt I've done. And if I hadn't went and sewn the surname of the person I made it for into the back, I would probably be keeping it for myself.



At least if I can't keep it, it does calm me down to know that I have one Christmas gift finished. (Though I now think I need to make a quilt for my living room wall, I really didn't enjoy taking this one down after I photographed it.)

And I learned how to do a wider binding on this quilt, which lays so much nicer and is so much more forgiving than the super thin binding I have used in the past. I think I might want to do all of my holiday quilts this way!

Look what I snagged...

Off of my sister's facebook page. He has so much attitude! I love it! And am so glad it fits decently!

I have been quietly working away on the quilting for my disappearing 9 patch in the hopes of entering it into the Blogger's Quilt Festival. So be on the look out for that post soon. I'm nearly ready to start binding. Then, since I'm out of batting I am going to piece two more tops (same pattern, different fabric). I'm deep into Christmas sewing over here, but I think I'll be able to post all of the projects on the blog as the chances of the receivers checking it out are pretty slim.

Monday Moments: Tuesday Edition

I nearly forgot to post this, but look who I got to meet this weekend! Her name is Zoe and she is so beautiful, even when she's screaming...and she is a screamer!

I love her chubby cheeks! They remind me so much of my son's when he was a newborn. It's going to be a long, long month until I get to see her again, and she's going to be so different. It makes me sad to live so far away.

Thank you very much

Finally finished with my nephew's costume on Sunday! One day before the One Thing, One Week Challenge deadline at Amy's Creative Side.

I altered this Simplicity pattern to a size 12 months and changed up the way it was done in a few spots to make it easier, and more wearable for a one year old. And I know they are choking hazards, but it just isn't an Elvis costume without all of the little iron on jewels and studs. He will be watched very carefully, I promise!

30: The electronic gadget birthday

I will never deny that I am a very lucky woman with such a generous family. A family who buys me things that I would never buy myself, but I wouldn't think twice spending that kind of money on them (okay, maybe twice, but only because I'm kind of poor).



Why, are those iPod headphones?



Yes, yes they are. I am so in love with my new nano. It is my best sewing buddy, drowning out the kids and the husband when they have all promised me I can work, but inevitably have just one question. And since my car stereo only gets radio it has become my best buddy for the 40 minute wait in the parking lot at my step-daughter's school. I have to go so early to get a parking spot and my son is almost always asleep by the time I get there, so I end up sitting, bored for nearly an hour.



However, that first day I took it to school I was so concerned. I had to just sit it in my purse with my sunglasses and keys and loose change! I knew I would go crazy with worry if I didn't make some kind of cover for it, with something to keep the headphones from getting all tangled up in the random crap inside my bag.

I will probably redo this case once I'm done with my nephew's Halloween costume and my disappearing nine patch quilt. I'm not happy with how it turned out and it takes less than a six inch square of fabric, so I won't be worried about killing my stash on it.



P.S. The fabric is Minny Muu and I love it! You can probably find it around somewhere or settle for the equally cute, equally tiny New Minny Muu.

Teeny Tiny Gnomes

Not only is Teeny Tiny Gnome a pretty rare Monkees song (you can hear a sampling of it here), it's also the pattern for this super cute Michael Miller fabric that I have been hoarding for about four months now.



I had been dreaming up something cute, padded and red to hold my new camera since Saturday when I opened the box. Why red?



It had to match! I am so a sucker for red things. It's just the icing on the cake when I get a camera from my favorite camera company in my favorite color. I really had no plan for my Gnoming Around anyway, I just knew it was cute and I had to have it.

I am a little sad that some of my favorite little gnomes ended up on the back though. Like this mom, dad and little boy family.



I am also a little sad that I didn't take into account the thickness of the fabric when I had my genius idea to square off the corners. Because it was way too thick and I couldn't do what I wanted, and now I have this envelope shape instead of a boxy one. Over all though, I'm happy and super excited that not only do I get to take my camera with me everywhere, I get to take a bit of my adorable fabric too!

Monday Moments: Tuesday Edition

So, I promised last week that if I was gone for any amount of time I would come back with cute baby pictures. Turns out that my niece is being stubborn and now nearly a week overdue. We're all going a little crazy.



I was sort of glad that she didn't come this weekend though, as I had a ton of plans and would have felt guilty not making the hours long trip to the hospital. Saturday we had the last soccer game of the season, a trip to the apple orchard, and a little birthday party for me. The parents, grandparents and the youngest child thought it was great. The older one was a little disappointed. She has been to so many commercial pumpkin patches that she wasn't really impressed with the actual, working, down home apple orchard. Where were the bounce houses? Where were the barrel trains and the face painting? How come the petting area only had real farm animals and no hybrid zebra/donkey or a chinchilla? We tried our hardest to explain the difference between a true family farm that has been owned and worked by the same people for over 100 years and a pumpkin patch.

It brought back childhood memories for my husband and I, who both grew up in small farming communities. It was just like home for us and we stocked up on plenty of farm fresh honey and maple syrup before we headed back to the city. It was a great weekend, even without a new baby.

Challenging

It's that time again. Amy's Creative Side is hosting another One Thing, One Week challenge. This week I aim to finish the extremely challenging, so, so good at trying my patience, Halloween costume for my nephew.

Along with carving pumpkins, making a case for the shiny new red camera I got for my birthday, and deciding what my son is going to be. It is such a busy time of year and so exciting!

Monday Moments

I decided to change things up a bit this weekend and took my son to one of my favorite parks. I bought him a once in a blue moon Happy Meal and let him pick out a picnic table for us to sit at. We talked and ate lunch, then played on the jungle gym.



Before we left I wanted to try to get some great photos of him with all of the fall color on the trees. He isn't exactly cooperative this year. I took him down a trail I've been down a dozen times...only they rerouted the entire trail system this spring. I ended up with my almost three year old on a 1.5 mile hiking trail. He started getting really tired and by the end was worried that I had gotten us lost. He told me that he thought he heard Daddy calling for us, wondering where we were. It was an exhausting but fun day.

In other news, I am still anxiously awaiting the birth of my niece who is due any day now. So if I'm gone for a few days, be assured that I'm coming back with adorable baby photos.

If you have been waiting for this...

It is officially on its way! I love this little baby doll ensemble.

Purse for Purse Week

I just recently learned that Lemon Squeezy is having Purse Week, where your bag creation can win prizes. Before I even knew this was happening, I was already working on making a purse for one of my good friends from the pattern I drafted in March. We got the kids together at a playground and a few days later I got a late night text saying, "I can't get your purse out of my mind! I need one!"

If that wasn't enough to make me think that maybe I should enter it in a contest, my sister was actually taking my cute 11 month old nephew to the doctor when someone commented, "Oh, how adorable!" She turned around to say thank you, thinking that the woman was talking about the sweet baby on her arm, and found the woman staring at the version I made for her.



I squeezed one more bag out of my Michael Miller Birds of Norway fabric just for my friend and combined it with a fabric to bring out the teal blue and purple that she loved so much.



I even found these awesome magnetic snaps that come in colors! Real ones, not just antique and silver. I'm sure I'm horribly late to the party on these, but don't rain on my parade, okay?

Monday Moments

We took the dog to the vet today to get tested for heart worm. $89 later we came home. It has been her third trip to the vet this year, the other two were $65. Not to mention that she broke off of her chain earlier in the spring and we had to pay a gigantic amount (I don't remember exactly, but it was almost $200) in fines and fees for having her off of a leash, for not having her licensed and for them giving her shots because they had no idea whether or not she was up to date on anything.

She is the gift that keeps on giving. Better vacuum, new clothes when she was in that puppy stage and she chewed on anything the kids got food on, a GIANT hole in my couch so that I can't ever flip the cushion (God help us if it ever gets stained), 40 lb chain that she broke, replaced with a 125 lb chain that she broke, replaced with a 225 lb chain that she broke, replaced with a chain meant for towing trucks because obviously dog chains do not work on this beast, I can't even fathom how much money this animal has cost us over the last fourteen months.

Now, the lovely couple that is responsible for us getting this dog is engaged and planning a wedding for next fall. I have told my husband we are buying them a puppy. I really, really want to return the favor.

I know, somewhere here I am supposed to say it's worth it because my son loves her...but it isn't really. I have found that I am a dog lover when it is someone else's dog. I'd rather not have my own, thanks.