A pillow made with love ❤️

My 9 year old son, little A, wanted to make something special for his sister, Miss V, for Christmas. He knows, she loves things he made himself, and she loves pillows. 

So he struggled with scraps, with the sewing machine....and with himself too.

But look at this:

 

He made it all by himself. 

I am so proud of him. 

PS: she loves her pillow! 

Pillows

I made these pillows for my nieces for Christmas 

 

I like the scrappiness. And circles are always nice 😉

 

They were well received, that makes me a happy quilter! 

A sew-together bag Christmas present

Ever since my mom saw the sew together bag I made in early 2016  she has wished for one. So I made one for her for Christmas:

 

I love how it holds so much, and once you close it up, it's still not too big 

 She was so pleased that I finally made her one.  Now she just needs to figure out what to use it for 😉

Pattern by SewDemented

Some Christmas sewing

My daughter loves unicorns. She has been looking at a unicorn quilt block pattern since forever, saying things like "ooooh look at this - but....that's too difficult for you to sew, isn't it?"

So naturally, I had to get the pattern. I did, and it sat around in my to-do list forever. Because it looked so intimidating. But I did finish this pillow for her in time for Christmas - and she loves it! 

Pattern by Robyniepatterns

Christmas Tree Skirt 2015

I have wanted to make a Christmas Tree skirt for the longest time, but I never could figure out, which one I wanted to make - until I came across the Prismatic Medallion pattern on Robert Kaufmans website.

I pulled my fabrics - the kids loved this part :-)

The pattern looks a little complicated, but it really isn't. For me, the layout of the colors was the hardest part. The triangles came together without too many issues.

...and here it is under the tree:

A good thing about this pattern is, that you'll be cutting fabrics for 2 at the same time!

Merry Christmas

I made an I SPY for A for Christmas. I used the "Turning Twenty" pattern and made the blocks 12" square. I like it :) And more importantly, so does A. I especially like the binding!

I tried to use as much dinosaur fabric as I could in this, it's hard to find dino prints here, but much to my liking A refers to this quilt as his Dinosaur-quilt :D I even put a label on it!!

Miss V also needed a quilt for her bed, and I have been promising her a princess quilt for a very long time.
Sometime in November this conversation took place:
Miss V: Mom, I am looking forward to Christmas sooooo much!
Me: Yes, I know
Miss V: Especially because at Christmas I'll get my princess quilt
Me: Really??!! (slight panic and disbelief)
Miss V: Yes, mom! That's why I can't wait!

So I started sewing!!

This is the front, the panel was giving me a hard time, I have never worked with one before. Miss V loves it, that's a success if you ask me :)

I tried some spiral quilting in the purple border - fun!

Both kids were happy with their quilts, and so am I!!

We had a very happy Christmas, I hope you all did too.
Little A and I have been sick for a little over a week, though, so that slowed everything down a bit.

Now I need to see if I met my sewing-expectations from last New Year, and decide on my goals for 2010!

I hope you and your loved ones had a very merry Christmas!

We had a great Christmas

and a busy one. We had Violas daycare come over Dec. 20th, then family and friends on her actual birthday, Dec. 22nd.
She loved all the attention, and I cannot believe I have a 4 year old daugther!

My parents and my sister stayed with us for Christmas, and we had a great time :) They loved their quilts!
Charles was SO surprised, he thought I was making him a laptop-sleeve. He loves his quilt, and actually shed a happy-tear when he opened his present!

Dec. 26th we went to tivoli, and had such a great time. Everything was beautifully decorated, Viola and Ask just loved it...and so did the rest of us :)

The Christmas tree in this next picture is not yellow, it is absolutely covered in lights!
and look....something for me too...

I am a so happy everyone liked the things I had made, it was so much fun! And definately worth all the stress :)

I have promised myself to be better prepared next year. Sew some of the gifts throughout the year....and have my deadline be Dec. 1st!!
I finally started the Rocket Man quilt for Ask. Not that I have done very much so far. Lol!
These are the first 2 stars. They are made from 2½" squares and scraps.... The white stars on the blue fabric in the star on the left...they glow in the dark!!
How cool is that?!

Hopefully it won't freak Ask out!

Possibly the cutest owls ever......and another two presents finished :)

Eileen from Eileens Attic sent me these adorable owls!! I think they are just adorable!!
Eileen also sent me a kit to make one myself, she knows how busy I am right now, and sent the kit so I would have a chance of sewing one of these beauties before Christmas :) If you want to make one too, there's a tutorial on Eileens blog!
Thank you so so much Eileen! I love them, and they are going on our Christmas-tree....all 3, I am determined to sew up the kit!

And I may just be able to find the time, because I just finished my last Christmas-project!! The flying dutchman quilt for my sister.
I tried my hand at free motion quilting again, and eventhough I definately still have a lot to learn, I can see improvement with every quilt. That is very comforting :)
I pieced the label into the backing...the stamped labels are growing on me, I think I am even starting to like them :D
Here is a picture of the back of the quilt. I wanted to use up all the dots...the pink floral is a Kaffe Fassett print that was just too perfect to leave out...
The binding came from my stash....completely forgot why I bought this fabric, but it works well here, I think.
And all folded up and ready to be wrapped and given away....
....this will be hard to give away.....

The other night I made a Black Apple doll for Viola. It was fun and easy to sew, and I hope she will like it :)
Now...I know I said I was done with all my presents...but can I really give this doll away without a doll quilt??

Scrappy I SPY squares is done!!!

And I love it!! I am so happy this quilt is staying at my house :)
I just finished the binding, some of the scraps I chose are a little heavy, making it hard to handstitch, but it was okay.

Viola is not feeling well, so she is at home with me, which is nice. We have lots of projects, and I get to sew a little during the day. It is not good at all for my paper, I can't work when she is here, so I work at night.
That is seriously cutting into my sleep.... Not a good thing, but I'll manage, the sewing should be done by Dec. 24th (lets keep our fingers crossed. Lol), and the paper by Jan. 5th. And then I'll have some time to catch up!

I made labels for all of the 3 quilts I am giving as gifts this Christmas.. I used stamps, and I am not sure what I think of these, but finished labels are much better then imagined perfect phantom labels...so I am using these :)
Charles' is already on his quilt! YAY!
This quilt is completely done, ready to be wrapped!!
I am soooo happy!

Now onto the next project....I need to piece the backing for my sisters quilt.
And Viola and I are working on calendars for the family, she'll be giving one to Charles, my parents and my sister.

I printed and cut all the photos, one calendar has all the photos in place, and Viola is adding the finishing touches (drawings and stickers!). So only 2 more to go!
But why did I have to choose the kind where I have to write all the dates?!

Lily pad toss (almost) done!

I finished the lily pad toss! Happy me! One more present done :)
I made the bag from this tutorial, it was sooo easy! I used my serger -quick and easy :)
Now I just need to sew some eyes on the frogs...well...so it's ALMOST done... Lol!

I also made binding for Charles' quilt, for some reason I thought this was a time consuming project.
It took ½ hour to cut and sew the binding...and not much more to sew it on to the quilt.
The handstitching will take longer, so I am saving that for friday night... Charles will not be home (Christmas party at work), and I am going to watch tv and finish this when the kids are sleeping.
This is what was left of the binding. I always save the "left-overs", that way I have some for the next scrappy binding project!

Getting ready for Christmas

Viola and I went out today and bought an advent candle, a pointsetta, and an advent calendar for Ask, one for Charles and one for Viola :)It all made our home look much more ready for Christmas...Speaking of ready...I am getting some sewing done in the evenings. I have sewn and handquilted these 2 lilypads for Violas lilypad-toss, I have 3 more cut and ready to sew. Then I need to make some kind of bag to keep it all in.....I am thinking a box-bag of some kind would be good.

Charles and I tested the game last night, and it was fun :) I had planned to make some lilies to sew onto tha lilypads, but that won't work! They would be squashed by the frogs during the first game. So....less work for me. Maybe I can make one and sew it onto the bag. That would (hopefully) look pretty.

On a different note....Charles hung these storage units for me today. They are from Ikea, and they are meant for shoes. I use them for extra gloves, mittens, hats, sweaters, scarves....you know, all the stuff that is left all over the place once the kiddos are home from daycare. I put the large Barbapapa stickers on for the kids. Viola chose the orange barbapapa, so that's where her stuff goes. Ask chose the airplane -very much helped by Viola in making his decision. LOL!I love these already! There is no more clutter in our hallway! Yipee!

-oh....you can see the kids' calendars on top of the storage units. Violas is the one with the princesses (obviously) and Ask's is Winnie the Pooh.

Just do it already!!!

I have been so intimidated by the thought of quilting Charles' Christmas-present-quilt.
After thinking about how to quilt it for weeks (it has been weeks hasn't it? It sure seems like it!) I finally decided to just go ahead and quilt it!
It is not as if my quilting skills are going to improve dramatically while I wait and do nothing, so might as well get started :)
I am going to need to do some quilting within the squares, that'll have to be another night. It's almost midnight, and I am beat! Plus the kiddos will paobably wake up before 6 AM...
I also finished the quilttop for my sisters Christmas-present-quilt! I might just make it! I might just finish my to-do list in time!
Of course there is still Charles' birthday-present, Viola's game and my sisters birthday-present...

I finished Spaceboy and Robot!

I finished them last night :) After taking Ask to the craft store to buy felt and wool. He was not happy! If you haven't tried any of wee wonderfuls patterns, you should! This was so easy to follow, and I think they came out cute :)

Because the kids have been sick, I have been inside for almost 2 weeks, only running the most important errands. So going out yesterday was fun :)
Christmas decorations are up everywhere!

This is the department store I showed you on the bike-ride. Now it is all decorated :)
These windows are beautiful! The windows are decorated in the colors of the rainbow, here is the yellow window..
I tried to get a shot where you could see them all, but no luck, there were too many bikes parked in front of the store :(

This is another department store, they have these huge Christmas-ornaments on the side of the building
They change color
Viola desperately wants one of these for her room :D
And another window....going through town is going to take so much longer this next month.
Both because there is just so much for the children to look at, and because there are so many people everywhere!!!

All part of Christmas....and really.....I love it :)