April Finishes

In addition to all the things I posted here,  I also made the 4th nesting box for my grand daughter Ellie.  Her's were the first set I ever made using the excellent tutorial from Sew, Mama, Sew! but they seemed so complicated and time consuming that I only made her three instead of four.   After I made the 2nd, 3rd and 4th set for other babies I really got the hang of it so how could I not make my granddaughter her 4th and largest box.

 I also started on the Elementary School T-shirt quilt. I cut all the t-shirts and fused most of them.  Here is the WIP:

 

This isn't the final configuration, just a preliminary layout to see what I have and what I still need.  I need more dark green t-shirts.  It's all about symmetry for me.

I also made this hanky pillow:

One last little thing I made for my etsy shop was this pretty tea wallet:

Making it made me happy.  It made me want to make more so on my May To-Do list I want to make 5 - 10 pretty tea wallets.

My Crafty Kids

Can I take a moment to brag about my kids and how talented they are?

My oldest daughter, a brand new mommy, does hand stitching while nursing.  She never uses a pattern and her things turn out so darling. She's made quilts for her bed and her wall.   Her latest adorable creation is called a softie.  Everything is hand-sewn since she doesn't leave the baby long enough to be able to thread her machine.  Here's a picture of one of her "softies."

 

My son, the musician, is very eco-minded.  He freaks out whenever I forget to bring my market bags,  and will hand carry groceries before taking a plastic bag.  His idea was to take the back pocket off blue jeans and repurpose it into a hipster wallet.  (I use the rest of the old jeans to make rag quilts).  He designed the pattern based on a tea wallet that I make.  I talked him into opening his own etsy shop.  Here's a picture of what he makes:

 

My middle daughter has made an occasional rag quilt for her friends but those were few and far between.  Recently she decided to make an 8-bit "geek" quilt for a friend.  I was amazed at the result:

                         

We are trying to get her to make more and then open an etsy shop of her own.



 My youngest daughter started making things with me when I first opened my etsy shop.  She was a photographer and a crocheter but she tired of that pretty fast.  She opened her own etsy shop last year and sold silk screened t-shirts and undies.  She also wanted to try her hand at a softie baby toy.  Here are some things she has made:

It makes me happy to see what all four of my kids create.

Still not the perfect pillow

I love the look of my Hanky quilts.  I love the feel of their softness.  I'm drawn to their floral patterns.  When I put them altogether in a quilt, they look so perfectly beautiful to me.  I've made five so far.  Some with new vintage style hankies, some with actual vintage hankies and some with a mix of both.  You can see the ones I've done here and here.

I found some gorgeous hankies at an antique shop in Ventura a few weekends ago and I picked out a few.  I didn't have enough to make a full quilt so I tried my second rag quilted hanky pillow.  The first one I wasn't happy with because the fluff wasn't full enough but I loved the colors and the patterns.

This time I made the pillow top the same way I made the hanky quilt with different size hankies - I cut 12" squares of white flannel and sewed the hankies on top.  Then I layered two more 12" squares of white flannel and I sewed them together with  a 1" seam for a nice full fluff.  I loved how the fluff looked but this time the floral patterns looked off and I didn't notice how off until it was all done.

It's that darn symmetry thing again - three big prints and a tiny print just don't go...
Well, I hope someone without the symmetry obsession will like this latest pillow.

How's Your Month Going?

While the month is not over yet, I just wanted to write an update on what I've accomplished so far.  This was my  April TO-DO List.  

1.  Make a set of quilted nesting/stacking blocks for a friend using Winnie the Pooh fabric

         ✓

 

2.  Make another set of quilted nesting/stacking blocks for a friend using Star Wars fabrics.

           ✓     

 3.  Make an Elementary School t-shirt quilt  for a teacher friend who is retiring in June.

       - Didn't get started yet but I still have time

4.  Hopefully get another order for a t-shirt quilt that a lady asked me to do yesterday. 

       - She did not send me the shirts yet...

 5.  Make some rag quilted baby bibs for my etsy shop.

             ✓

Plus I made two black and white baby rag quilts that I sold, one with white fluff and one with black fluff:

 

 I think I'm having a good month so far.  How's your month going?

So, I Sewed...

          Joining Pigtales and Quilts for a (late) Saturday sharing.  I've gotten so much done this past week since I was forced to stay home from school with a supposed case of the shingles.  Now, I know what shingles are and how they are supposed to feel - "feels like a knife stabbing me"; "worst pain I've ever felt" etc. etc.  I either have a very high pain tolerance or I didn't really have full blown shingles.  I had a tiny spot more like a bug bite and a tolerable amount of the nerve pain, but my principal recommended I stay home all week until I'm not contagious.  So I sewed.  Here's what I made:

burp cloths

Raggety bib

more bib

one more bib

 (I wish I had fussy cut the bears a little better...)

Star Wars Nesting/stacking blocks

I'm finishing the last block today and then I will be making a black and white baby rag quilt like this:

My April TO-DO List and Saturday Sharing Day

I'm a week into April but I wanted to give a list of some things I want to-do this month, linking up with Pigtales and Quilts.

I just finished a rag quilt that I have been wanting to make since January 2012, when I laid it out for a customer.   She wanted a queen size black and white rag quilt with matching shams but she wanted me to throw in some random reds.  I showed her two options of reds.  She picked this one:

 

But I just loved the other red print I picked.  It was a black, white and red Hawaiian quilt print and here was the layout back in 1/2012:

And here's the quilt/throw I finished yesterday:

On to My April TO-DO List.  Here's what I have in mind to do this month.

1.  Make a set of quilted nesting/stacking blocks for a friend using Winnie the Pooh fabrics

2.  Make another set of quilted nesting/stacking blocks for a friend using Star Wars fabrics

3.  Make an Elementary School t-shirt quilt  for a teacher friend who is retiring in June.

4.  Hopefully get another order for a t-shirt quilt that a lady asked me to do yesterday.

5.  Make some rag quilted baby bibs for my etsy shop.


 This has really helped me to focus on what I need to get done so Thank you Thearica!