Wall Hanging

My husband likes having his Christmas horse blanket on the wall. Since Christmas is over and our decoration will be getting put away on Monday, his blanket will be getting put away. So I decided to make him something to make up for that happening. Although he has been complaining that it is not as big as the blanket. Guess I will have to make him another blanket later but for now he will have something to fill the space on the wall.

I found all the horse print fabrics that his Grandma has given me and started looking at patterns to see what I might have enough fabric for. I found a pattern called Table Grace designed by Julie Weaver in one of my quilt books. I machine pieced and quilted it, add three tabs to the back so it can hang on the wall.

I think it turned out fairly well since I have not quilted in a long time, like years. The only problem I have with it is that the binding could have been attached better. I am the only one around here that would know or notice it, so I decided I am not going to worry about it this time. One thing I do like is that with the way I quilted it because of the front, the back quilting reminds me of the fence railing that you would see for the corals and barn pens.

End Of The Year

Well, Christmas is over and my family had fun. My kids had us opening presents at six in the morning. We had my sewing friend's family over, so between the two families we had sixteen people in the house. It was fun but toward the end of the night my husband had a bit to much. He only does large groups for short amounts of time, but is doing better at handling it for longer periods of time. Its a work in progress for him. Which must be why he invites a bunch of people over every holiday. Granted the past few this year had a lot of last minute cancellations. Most of the time we end up with at least one family with us.

With a new year starting in just a few days, I think I will make up a few goals of things I want to learn and do. I am not one that makes resolutions to go to the gym or lose weight, even though those would be good for me. I try to make goals of things that I think I really want and am more likely to stick with. Like how this year I wanted to start my blog and stick with it. Granted I have not posted daily like I would have liked but I have kept up with the projects that I have completed through the year. My other goal was to work in more time for me to be able to work on and complete those projects during the year. First time in a while that I have accomplished goals that I have set that focused on stuff for me. Here is to setting a few new goals and sticking with them the same way or better then I did this years.

Daughter's Christmas Present

My husbands wonderful Grandma had some beautiful fabric in the stuff that she gave me. A few of them I told my oldest daughter that I would make something for her from. Since I finally got a dress form made of her and finally got it up on a stand was able to start. She loved this fabric so I made her a wrap around skirt with it. She will be getting it as a Christmas present. She did see my working on it and knew the fabric had been promised her. She just doesn't know what exactly it is that I made and is kind of getting antsy about it. It was made a week or so ago and put under the tree. I still am worried about her liking it and if she will wear it or not. But that is me being a worry wort again about my stuff not being good enough or stylish enough.

Family Gingerbread Houses

At the beginning of December our family made gingerbread houses. We had a little town of our own. Each kid got their own to decorate. My oldest daughter wanted to make one so we went ahead and bought some kits for the kids. May be next year we can make our own but this year we used kits that had everything in them. We just had to put them all together. I helped my girls with theirs and my oldest girl helped my three little boys with theirs.


My oldest daughter (right)


My youngest daughter (left)


My oldest son (right)


My second youngest son (left)


My third youngest son (right)


My youngest son (left)

Christmas Stockings

Something happened to the Christmas stockings my friend's family had. They bought new ones and tried to put the names on with fabric paint pens but it did not work out to well. So my friend gave me a call to see if I could embroider their names on them. She stopped by that day, Tuesday, and we got started on them but she had to leave before they could be completed. I did not get to work on them much after she left that day, and was only able to work on them again yesterday. Now they have a cute new matching set of stockings.

Pincushine Fun

My friend bought a cute pincushion for herself. She had it with her for one of our sewing days. I did not have any current sewing projects so I played around with her pincushion. Stabbing it with pins and drawing on paper and things like that. By the end of our sewing time, I had I taken a light weight fabric and some old newspapers and made a large version for the fun of it. This is how that turned out.

Brag About My Friend Stacey

I have a wonderfully talented friend named Stacey that draws just about anything. My husband commissioned her to draw this picture of my wolf-hybrid that passed away four years ago. We had him for ten year so he was a big part of our family and is very missed. So getting a piece of art work so beautifully done of him is very special. I sent my friend a few pictures that I had of him and before I knew it she sent me this picture of the finished piece. It will be a great addition to the art work I already have hanging in my living room which each has a special meaning to me.

She has a lot of talent. I love looking at her web site periodically so that I can see her new pieces. Take a look you will be amazed at her talent.

http://www.staceyedgarportraitart.com/

Brag About My Friend

My friend that I made the scripture case for decided that she wanted a bag to carry other things in that matched her scripture case for Sunday's. I had enough fabric left over from the scripture case, so I let her use it for a matching bag. This is the picture that she sent me when she finished it this weekend.

Christmas Items

Earlier this year when my husband's Grandma dropped off some fabric for me I found half of a little girls Christmas dress. A month or so later I found the other half and put them in a box of holiday fabrics. I pulled out the box a few days ago when I made the wall quilt my husband wanted. So yesterday, I finally got the dress sewn together. I was hoping that it might be the right size for my youngest daughter but it was not. Now I have to figure out who I know that would be the right size or I will end up giving it to the Airman's Attic on base for anyone to pick up. Or I can make or buy a life size doll to dress it in it. Most likely I will just give it away as a gift.



Some more of the fabric panels that Grandma gave me was a pillow and applique panel. I made the pillow up and do not really have anything to put the other pieces on. I decided that I would use them as window decorations for Christmas. Usually my windows get crocheted snowflakes but with so many windows in the front of my house I can use more then just snowflakes. I put the appliques onto some felt and plan on hanging them in the living room windows since we have six large windows there. The matching pillow is staying on my living room couch. The snowflakes that I have will be put in the windows in my entryway this year. I only have about ten so they would look funny in the living room windows, I plan on making more but for now this will work.

Dress Form

I have sewn for years but never had a dress form. In the recent years with my oldest daughter being close to the same size as me or wanting clothes for herself. I have always made her stand there to be fitted at different stages of the sewing process. A few months ago I started teasing her about how I was going to duct tape her since she didn't know what I was talking about. It wasn't until a week or so ago that I finally did and she found out what I was talking about. We had fun making it, I just need to finish it up. I plan on making a cover for it so that it will be easier for pinning and if possible I am going to make it a stand. For now it is sitting on the floor under my ironing board.

Christmas Panels

This last weekend my husband took me to the craft store and he saw a quilt that he likes. So he bought the fabric panel and some fabric and batting. The next day I got to work on it. I didn't make it the way the sample quilt was because it had pockets and stuff. I just wanted a nice wall quilt to hang in my family room. So quilted it how I wanted and left off the pockets and things. We like how it turned out.



Since I was working on a Christmas quilt I thought that I would look through the fabric that my husband's Grandma had given me. I came across some Christmas story book panels. So now my kids have a few new ones to read. With the ones I made a few years ago we now have six books. Just the older ones are flat compared to the new ones. Hard to believe that they use to be just as big when they were first made.

First Try At Free Motion Quilting

I have hand quilted and machine quilted before but I have never done free motion quilting before. I have been looking at a few different web sites that have examples of free motion quilting. So I figured that I would try a few things with it. This is my first attempt at free motion quilting, an experiment you could say. I think I am actually going to work on learn how to do it more. I look forward to learning more and trying it out on some quilts.

Halloween costumes

I will start out with a picture of all my kids in their costumes. My oldest is the only one that is not wearing something that I made so she will not be in any other pictures.



This is my oldest son. He is wearing part of his costume from last year actually. This year I do not know what he is trying to be in it. That was all he ware for our churches trick or treat party. Last year though he was an old fashion mobster. He had a bowler hat and Nerf gun. He would have had a trench coat to go with it but I forgot it.



This is another costume from last year but a different kids is wearing it this year. We call it the Teddy Bear Cowboy. It has a large teddy bear centered on the back of the vest. He got to wear his Dad's hat for the pictures only. We had a kids cowboy hat last year but the kids played with it and it ended up getting eaten by one of our dogs over the summer. He didn't seem to mind not having a hat anyways.



This is one of the costumes that I did this year. When I got the fabric from my husband's grandma I thought of this costume for my daughter. I made the dress and a skinny tail that we pin on under the bow in the back. The ears came out nice, I was not sure they would turn out right when they started curling up when I was making them. The curl actually helped when it came to putting the ears on the headband.



I made the flannel shirt for my son's scarecrow costume. The hat was an old one of my daughters and use to have a purple ribbon on it. It had lost part of the ribbon, been colored on and lost its shape. So I stuffed it with a sheet when I painted it in hopes that it would hold a shape, luckily it did. I added shredded newspaper to the hat and put some on elastic for the arms. Then the shirt can be worn other times. His overalls we had in a box of clothes for him to grow into. We had recently gone through boxes getting rid of and passing down clothes that are to small for all the kids and getting out ones they now fit in from the older kids. When I saw the overalls I thought of a scarecrow.



My youngest was Batman which I had completely remake. The costume was originally a size eight that my oldest son wore about two years ago. When we got the Halloween box out to look at costumes to figure out what everyone could be, they started dressing up in them over and over again. One time the costume didn't get put away when we left and one of my dogs ate a hole out of the middle and damaged the sleeves of the Batman costume. After looking at it for a little while I measured my youngest and found that I could save it enough for him to still be Batman. Since he was the one playing with it and probably left it out, he didn't mind. The only problem is the sleeves are a little tight at the wrists for his hand to fit through with out tugging. I ended up having to take the costume completely apart to cut out the shredded area and size down the rest. If it wasn't for the fact that my son liked the costume so much I would have just tossed it because of the hole.

Oct 28

My oldest daughter wanted a new book bag, so we made her one this past weekend. My friend that I sew with had me work on a bag for her and left the pattern. So my daughter found some fabric that she liked and was thick enough to work for a book bag for school. She is happy with it but my other school age kids are all complaining that they want me to make them bags now.



While I was working on things for myself, my friend let me borrow a dress pattern. My husband says that I need to get a thin black belt to go with it. Other than that he likes it though. I think I might make a few other things for myself but these are the last few things that I made before starting on my kids Halloween costumes.

Projects completed between Sept 20-24

My friend has been coming over on Thursdays to sew and be crafty. She has a set of stuff ponies that she has on her fireplace hearth. She thought they would be cute is they had little beds to lay on and warming blanket to wear like you see horses wear on a cold day. These are what we came up with. After I sewed them I gave them to her to fill the beds as she would like.


She cut these out and I sewed them. They are just little monsters that go with a backpack style bag that she would like to make or get made for her. So far these are the only part of that we have gotten done.



I had an old pair of jeans that got a hole but that I didn't want to just get rid of. I held onto them hoping to get a chance to do something with them. Once my husband's Grandma gave me the last batch of fabric I found a few pieces that I liked and finally got around to making my old jeans into a skirt.



In the fabric from my husband's Grandma was a vest and hat panel that I put together for my youngest daughter. I made them a little big for her right now. With her being on growth hormones she is growing fast so the vest will not be big for long. I just hope that she will get a good amount of wear out of them. As is I think she may only get to wear them for about six months or so, just have to wait and see.

Stoller/biking cart and Stroller Pads

My friend sent me a picture of the stroller/bike cart with the cover that I did for it. Now that I see it I realize that I put the "B" on it the wrong way but she seems to like it the way that it is. It at least faces her correctly and not sideways or anything.

I have now completed recovering a set of stroller seat pads to match. So now her things will match.

Friends Scripture Case

Yesterday I got the zippers put on the purse and little bag for my friend and then made her scripture case. The fabric is some of the stuff my husband's Grandma gave me. The outside is a black on black zebra print, while the inside is a purple denim. She has the smaller books that do not snap closed, the hymn book, and getting the children's hymn book soon so it was made wide enough for all of those. It has a pocket on both the inside and outside and a ribbon to tie onto a pen.

I was working on the scripture case when she got to my house yesterday to visit and be crafty. When she comes over she has been going through fabric and cutting patterns. While I have been sewing or figuring out how to repair things she brings with her. It is fun and I look forward to doing it again soon. In the past two weeks we have been able to get together three times. Hopefully we can make it a weekly thing we do.

Sept 15

This last Saturday I spent a good part of the day doing crafty things. Most of the time was spent cutting and getting things ready to sew and put together. One thing that I did manage to complete were five angels ornaments. My other projects have been prepped but not touched because I was working on a few things for a friend of mine. I finished up the stuff that I had here for her and get to start finishing up some of my projects until she brings me more.




Last Friday I had a friend over to look through my fabric. When she came over she asked if I could try to fix a cover that goes on a cart for kids to ride in while walking or biking. I found some out door fabric that I had and replaced the stuff that was damaged.




While my friend was here she found some fabric that she liked and asked if I could make her a purse out of it. Since I was already working on the cart cover she took it home to cut out the pieces. Yesterday she came back over to sew again and I started sewing the purse. This morning I finished up the purse and made the little bag that can be put inside. The only thing that is needed are zippers for the two bags.




It has been nice having my friend come over to sew and be crafty together. Granted we do not actually get a lot of stuff done. With her two youngest and my two youngest running around needing stuff, usually lunch because of the time we get together. Then we also talk for a while before we even get started. Maybe if we get together enough we will manage to get straight to work and just do all our talking while we do things. Either way works for me because it is just nice getting to together like we have been.

Sept 14

Well I finally got to work yet again on my cross stitch. I have been working on a few projects for a friend of mine. I hope to get the pictures done today so that I can post them.

My husband has suggested that I start taking pictures of my desserts that I have been making lately to post. He thinks they look good and taste even better then they look. I don't know if I will or not but he thinks that I should.

Now off to pick up my friend and two of her kids so that we can sew and be crafty together.

Brag on my Husband

I told my husband that I would brag about him but that I would not put pictures up.

One thing to brag about is that my husbands birthday was Saturday September 4Th. We had a BBQ with another family who also have six kids. He turned thirty-three years old.

The other thing to brag about and said that I would not put pictures up of is...he put in a new toilet in our bathroom over the weekend all by himself. Our bathroom has a lot of blue. The tub, the sink, the old toilet and the tiling on the bottom half of the walls and floor is blue. The old toilet had a broken blot and would tip on you if you were not careful. So we finally got it changed out for a new white toilet. We are slowly toning down the blue in the bathroom.

Time to catch up

It has been a while since I added photos of things that I have been doing. So it is time to catch up on those things.

To start off I decided to add a pillow case to each of the baby packages that I sent to my cousins and their wives. The fabric on the front has a large barn yard picture that says Good Night (for the baby boy) and Sweet Dreams (for the baby girl) in English and Spanish. On the back it has animals and says what they are in both English and Spanish.



Next are a few plastic bag holders. One is long and skinny that hangs on my fringe. The other is nice and fat and currently hangs on the back of the chair I use while sewing. My two youngest us it as a punching bag while I sew. With a large family we need the big and fat one more then the skinny one but I wanted one small enough to having in the kitchen. Plus the cats like to rub on it and play with it while they watch me cook, so I am only tripping over my three dogs while cooking and not the two of them too.



My next item that I made was an apron for my friends daughter. It is a bit big for her right now but I think she will have fun with it. I was flattered when another lady showed up thought that the apron had been professionally done when she saw it. The little girl had handed it to the lady too look at while we were talking. She commented on it when I told my friend that I hope her little girl likes her apron before my little boys and I left.



I also made my oldest daughter a new scripture case. The one that she has been using I have no clue how we ended up with it, but I don't really like it personally. While looking for fabric for another project I came across a sample piece of fabric that was used at a furniture store or something. It reminded me of my daughter and looked like just the right size of fabric to try and make a new scripture case out of. This is the finished case.



The last thing that I have made recently is an outfit for myself. Something I usually do not do, make something for my self. Of course the fabric is stuff given to me, this one from my husband's Grandma. It reminded me of an old dress I use to have and a skirt that I currently have. So I figured that I could try to make a skirt and vest out of it. Considering I came up with the design myself and made it with out a pattern I think I did a good jog. Now I just need to get a nice shirt to wear with it. In the pictures I am wearing a cream shirt with it but today I wore the outfit out with one of my oldest daughters blue shirts. I think it looks better with the blue shirt. I think I need to go shopping to get some new shirts so that I have my own blue shirt and maybe a pink one to go with it too.



I have a few other projects in the work that I will add when they are finished.

Though I have been a very bad girl and avoided my cross stitch yet again. It has been at least a month now that I have not picked it up. So I need to start making sure that I get a little time on that everyday again. I was doing good for a while but was bad a put it aside and not touched it again. I really need to get it done so that I wont have to worry about doing that anymore. It drives me crazy that I am still working on it after all these years. I guess I need help to make sure that I stay on top of it and get it done once and for all.