Bunny Ears

 

I wanted to do a crafty Easter project with my kids but wasn't sure what.  I didn't want to spend much time on Pinterest figuring it out.  I actually go on Pinterest a lot less that I use too.  I think I subscribe to so many blogs now that catching up on them takes up all my computer time.  So I decided to google search paper plate bunnies.  I saw many ears like these so I though we would go for it.

Luke is just starting to use scissors so I did most of the cutting.  I just traced some ears and cut around them and cut around the plate.  I let Luke and Stella glue the pink part (scrapbook paper) of the ears on.  That was it.  For a 23 month old and three year old that was enough.  Luke's ears are already ripped.  And he looks like he is flipping me the bird in the second photo.  

I am trying to finish his Easter shirt and sweater.  I am not enjoying the collar part of the shirt but maybe I have it figured out now.  The collar seems so long.  But maybe it is suppose to?  Or maybe I messed up?  I am looking forward to working on Stella's Easter presents and finish Luke's quilt next. 

 

Quilt Day!

 

Today was an "all day quilting" day with my quilting friends.  I am still not feeling that great but I would have to be seriously ill to miss one of these days.  I had the 147 plus blocks done and just needed to sew them together to make Luke's quilt top.  I didn't quite finish.  I just have 9 rows to sew together.  I am really dying to finish but I haven't started Luke's Easter shirt yet and Easter is one week.  So I think I will have to wait to finish the top.  

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I am making progress on Luke's sweater vest and I hope to have that finished by Easter too.  That may be pushing it but I tend to do that.  Have a great weekend!

Bloglovin and Luke's new sweater vest

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

So I am trying to set up my blog with bloglovin.  I was so amazed how quickly everyone reacted to Google Reader shutting down.  I have been in denial and not it hurry to figure out what I was going to do.  But I wanted to enter a giveaway this morning so I went ahead and signed up for Bloglovin.  Am I the only one that  whenever I say or type or think bloglovin I think of McLovin?  I may check out some other readers but probably not anytime soon.

I just added the little button to my side bar on the right.  Feel free to follow me on Bloglovin. 

I am still sick here so this is my day - magazines and knitting.  Well I also have two young children to take care of too but when they are playing nicely with each other I am planting myself on the couch.  I will put the details of Luke's sweater vest on Ravelry soon but I am just too lazy today.  The yarn is really wonderful.  The magazines are ones my sweet mother buys and then mails to me.  I am so lucky.

Funny

Just popping in to share this great quote.  We had a snow day today so I didn't have to go to work.  This cold is still dragging me down so I haven't been sewing or quilting.  I did start a new knitting project that I am excited about and will show you when I have a picture. 

And I managed to make a delicious white bean dip this morning.  I didn't measure anything but I'll tell you how I made it.  I dumped 2 cans of white northern beans, a glug of olive oil, some parsley, a little salt and orange rind in the food processor.  I pulsed it until blended.  I had it for lunch with red pepper slices and cucumbers.  It was really good and I can't even taste well right now. 

Easter Shrug

I have another cold but I did manage to sew the button on Stella's shrug and take pictures.  Details are on Ravelry.   She will be wearing it with this blue dress I made her for Easter. I posted about the dress here.  It is the bubble dress from StraightGrain.  I was lucky enough to be a pattern tester.  I can't wait to have Stella wear the entire ensemble.  I have ordered tights from Mini Boden because chances are she will need to wear them on Easter. 

 While I was in Luke's room, I took a couple pictures.  It is a sunny day here.  Luke's room and our sunroom are my favorite rooms in our little home.

 I still have my fiddlehead mittens to work on but I think I will start Luke's sweater vest today since double pointed needles are tricky to do with kids jumping over me on the couch.  I have actually just started knitting in the same room with Stella.  Before she had to grab what I was working on but she is much better now.  It is sunny out and it would be nice to take them somewhere but I feel so lousy I don't even think we will be getting out of our pajamas.  I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday.  Thank you for stopping by my little blog. 

** I just linked up with Sew Cute Tuesday on Better off Thread.  

Little Flirty Skirt Apron

Stella's Easter shrug is almost finished.  It just needs a button but I ran out of energy today.  I know that is sad that I am too tired to sew a button on at 4:30 in the afternoon.  However, I still am in the mood to blog so here is a picture of the apron I made Stella for her birthday last year.  I wish I remembered the name of the fabrics.  I love them so much.  I bought them last April at Alewives when I was doing the quilt hop. I did look up the apron which is so adorable.  It is called Little Flirty Skirty.  The ric~rac and the front tie really makes it an irresistible pattern.

I am feeling much more like myself and settled today.  Blogging yesterday really helped me.  I knew crafting was therapeutic but I guess blogging is too.  And I haven't bought any fabric online today.  I did buy some Cath Kidston dishes online though.  Our everyday dishes are cracked and breaking all the time so I have slowly just been buying a few dishes here and there.  Cath Kidston is having a sale.  They don't match my kitchen but I don't know how much longer we will live here.  I just wanted to buy dishes I will love.  And I love Cath Kidston.  I had to use serious restraint to not buy more.

Maybe I will post a picture of Stella's shrug tomorrow if I can get around to sewing a button.  Sometimes it is the little tasks that are the hardest to start. 

New Magazine

Well I have a lot to say that doesn't have to do with the magazine.  So I will say it all first.  I had a post I wrote earlier this morning about my Easter decorations and I deleted it.  ooops.  Well I did it on purpose.  I love my Easter decorations but I am in one of those moods when I don't like how my house looks and you could see it in the pictures so I just deleted it.

I am also in one of the moods when I want to start 10 new projects and buy a lot of fabric.  I keep shopping for fabric and stopping myself at the last minute.  I should not buy fabric (or new patterns) right now for many reasons.  The most important (which should be our credit card bill but really isn't) is because in April I am doing the quilt shop hop in Maine and will be going in at least 10 stores.  Some of the stores I have never been in and may have nothing but some shops (like Alewives) I know to be awesome.

So I think I know why I am feeling a little unsettled.  I haven't had that much time to craft this week.  The time change messed up my early mornings and I had a different work schedule this week.  Stella didn't nap today.  I have been very lucky because for the past two months both of my kids have been napping at the same time for around 2 hours.  It wasn't always like that but it has been awesome.  I hope today was a one time thing.  I have definitely noticed that when I don't get to make stuff I get a little cranky and unsettled feeling.  So hopefully I can make up for it this weekend. 

I rarely buy the usual quilt magazines anymore because I just don't see anything I want to make. I'd rather save my money and buy a Japanese magazine. But on some blog (I don't remember what one)  I saw Love Quilting and Patchwork and that I could I buy it at Barnes and Noble.  So I bought it this week.  It is very inspiring and there are a few things I think I will really make.  So this magazine (which I have had for two whole days) is also why I have been wanting to buy more fabric. 

I may have just bought the magazine for the cover quilt (since I couldn't see inside before I bought it because of the wrapper).  I have seen that medallion on several blogs lately and have just thought it was a perfect looking quilt.  I don't like quilts that are too modern looking or have solids (and yes I do have a solid modern quilt I made that I need to quilt) but I thought this magazine had enough other stuff in it to make it worth my while.

So I will try to be a good girl, buying no more fabric until April and finishing the projects I have started.  Time will tell.....

Happy Crafting Saturday

 My husband wasn't going to be around today and I felt a little sad about not getting to spend time with him but it turned into a really fun day.  I sewed these two doll quilt tops at the kitchen table this morning before the kids woke up. My husband was getting ready so I was able to talk to him while I sewed.  I usually have my sewing machine in the basement but I just haven't been wanting to spend time there.  It didn't use to bother me that I was in the basement but lately it does.  Maybe it is because the basement is extra messy lately.

 I cut the fabric for the quilt tops earlier this week.  They will be birthday presents for my Stella and my niece who both have birthdays at the end of April.  I am making the doll quilts from Helen Philipps book Simple Sewn Gifts.  They will get a lot of embellishing before they are quilted but I don't plan to pick them up again until after Easter.

Luke and Stella were playing their mega blocks before and after breakfast.  They actually used all of them and I thought that maybe they could use some more.  I gave Luke the option this morning of going to the store to buy more mega blocks or to stay home and make Easter decorations.  He is my boy. He chose to stay home and make decorations.  I cut the paper above with my Cricut and Luke glued it on the paper.  I punched two bunny holes and have it hanging with ribbon from a hook now. 

At nap time I was able to work more on Stella's Easter shrug.  I was knitting pretty slow because I was watching The Walking Dead.  I've seen an episode here and there with my husband (he watches regularly) but I just decided to start watching it from the beginning.  I knew that the show would make me a nervous wreck but there aren't many other good shows to watch.  And I knew from the episodes I had seen that it was well written and well acted. 

So back to the sweater.  The details are on Ravelry.  All I have left to do are the sleeves and collar.  It has gone very quickly and is super cute so far.  I have a cabled shrug pattern I want to make for Stella too but I need to knit something for my Luke next.

Luke has also requested that I make him a special shirt for Easter.  I told him he could wear his explorer vest when he asked me what he was going to wear.  And he said "no" and that I needed to make him a special shirt.  I am gladly taking recommendations of stylish easy fast boy shirt patterns. 

I just linked up at Plum and June's let's get acquainted which is over at Owen's Olivia this week.

Bubble Dress

 I love the blog StraightGrain.  It was one of those blogs I found that made me want to make clothes for Stella.  I hadn't made any clothes for her since her music box jumper/blouse outfit in January and was going to wait to until I finished Luke's quilt top.  Then An  from StraighGrain asked for pattern testers for this bubble dress and I jumped at the chance. 

It is a very easy quick dress to sew up with great results.  The dress is even cuter in person.  I don't think the pattern is available right now since it is still being tested (there is a collar version too) but hopefully it will be soon.  

I am making a sweater to go with the dress.  The Easter Bunny may be bringing Stella some new shoes  in her basket.  I am looking forward to seeing it all put together. 

I just linked up to Sew Country Chick.

Reflecting

So yesterday I wrote about trying to define my style. I tried to do those exercises and  it didn't work for me. I just love too many different styles. I change my mind frequently too which also makes it hard. I actually felt pretty bad yesterday that I couldn't do it and that my new little blog doesn't really have its own look or style. But then I started sewing yesterday (working on Luke's quilt and then the dress). As I sewed I started to feel better. I decided I am just going to keep making what I love (unless I figure out halfway though or at the end that I don't love it). So I will try to just make what I love and do what makes me happy crafting without worrying about styles or looks. And I will share what I have to share here.

Above was a project from yeterday that I loved doing with my kids with all my heart.  I saw the idea on facebook and it was either Family Fun or PBS parents.  It is a train tunnel that cars go over.  My kids love tape.  And I love crafts with tape when my kids have just had a bath and I don't want them to get dirty with markers, paint, or glue.  We used white out for the lines and white out dries really fast.  The kids loved playing with it together and  Luke loves saying that he made his own toy.

I am showing an old quilt  I made again because it has a lot of Kaffe Fassett fabric and goes along with this story.  On saturday morning I made a cutting mistake and needed more fabric from a store that is about a 35 minute drive.  My husband was going to the city anyway so I gave him a fabric scrap and asked him to buy the fabric.  This morning  we were talking about it and how the sales woman mentioned another fabric store that was closer.  My husband told me that he told the sales woman how I really like Kaffe Fassett.  And she replied that most stores don't have as much Kaffe Fassett as they do.  I was totally blown away that my husband know who Kaffe Fassett is and knows that I love him.  He told me of course he knows that because he has bought me a bunch of his books.  I actually don't have any recent Kaffe Fassett books from the past few years but I had been  trying to get all of them.  I just can't believe my husband remembers and that he pays attention to my quilting. Though he does usually show interest I didn't know he would remember.  It really made me very happy.  It also made me want some of his newer books so I just added some to my wish list.  I really wanted to tell someone that story but I don't know if my friends would get it.  So I am happy to have a place here to share it.  Thank you for reading.

Seeking Input on My Circle Quilt

In addition to starting new projects recently I have really been wanting to finish up some old ones.  I can't remember when I pieced this quilt top.  I know it was 2007 or 2008 because I was living in Portland, Maine.  I took a class at Sew Portland to make this quilt top that I think they called Freddy Circles.  I was just given paper templates I think but I thought the pattern was in a Freddy Moran book.  The fabric is not quilting cotton but a textured cotton by Joelle Hoverson.  I forget the name of it and it is long gone.  I have enough in another color for the binding.  I have a similar feeling old tablecloth from Crate and Barrel that I thought I would use for the backing.  The tablecloth is so heavy I thought I would not bother to use batting.  Is that a bad idea?

I really want to baste it this month and quilt it.  I really have been wanting to get better at machine quilting.  I am slightly afraid of messing this up since the quilting will be very noticeable I think.  That is my other question.  What color thread should I use?  I was thinking variegated.  And my last question is how should I quilt it?  I was thinking of doing concentric squares over the circles but then there would be an overlap.  I was told once that curvy quilts should be quilted with straight lines and straight lined quilts should have curvy quilt lines.  I am not really a rule follower but that seems like good advice for this quilt.

I do have to comment on how modern this quilt is.  I love modern quilts but I don't know if they are really my style since I love girly flowery soft looking quilts too. And I don't know if they go in my home.  But again I love them. I love so many different styles I really struggle at having my own.  I feel all over the place sometimes.  I read a great post earlier this week from Rachel at Stitched in Color on defining your style.  I haven't tried the exercises she suggested yet but I really want to.  Maybe I will today. I will let you know how it goes.

I am going to link up to Plum and June for the first time. And Freshly Pieced: WIP Wednesday

New Projects

I was doing well with focusing on my stranded mittens and Luke's quilt. But then I somehow started new projects and restarted an old one.  It is so fun to start something new.  I know I had written that I wasn't going to work on my cross stitch anymore but the pattern was so cute that I really wanted one to decorate my home with.  I also was just being stubborn and wanted to be able to do it.  So I started it over again.

I am doing the mystery monthly Woodland Sampler by Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.  I have almost finished the January month. I just need to add some more snowflakes.    As you can see it has a lot of mistakes but I am actually really happy with it because their designs are just so adorable.   I think as I go on I will make less mistakes.  I am enjoying it too now that I have started to fill in the frames.  I was stuck on the frames part for a while which is pretty boring.  This time I just started filling in the frames as I go which may be a bad idea but I needed some gratification. 

  

I always see notices on blogs for pattern testers and have always wanted to volunteer.  I saw this post from Ann on Straightgrain on Monday asking for pattern testers.  I responded right away.  And I have started cutting out the fabric for the dress and hope to complete it this week.  I had a little cutting mishap this morning so I am sending my husband to the fabric store so I can cut the last piece I need.  I decided this will be Stella's Easter dress.  My mother in law had bought her a dress last year for this Easter but I think it will be too big so I am happy to have an excuse to make her one.  The dress is sleeveless and the weather on Easter could be a sunny 80 degrees or a blizzard.  So those possibilities led me to my next new project.

I decided that Stella needed a little shrug to wear on Easter with her new dress.  I was worried that I wouldn't be able to make it in time but now that I am so close to dividing sleeves I know I can finish by the end of the month.  I just have the collar, the little bit on the bottom and the sleeves.  It just needs one button.  I have ordered some to chose from and have some other ones at home too.  I think I will need help deciding on which button to chose. 

And I almost forgot to give some updates on what has been going on in the kitchen.  I am afraid I have no pictures but I do have a link for yummy cupcakes. I put a mini recess cup on the top instead of crushed peanuts.  This soup was delicious too.  And the highlight of my cooking this week was going to my first cooking class.  My good friend Elena received a gift from her brother to take a half day cooking class with a friend.  The class was on Sicilian food and was so much fun.  We made mussel soup, a seafood anti pasta course, and blackened sea bass with yukon gold mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables, and parsley jus.  For dessert we had a chocolate souffle.  We were able to eat everything at the end and it was amazing.  I am going to try to recreate the main course tonight.  I hope to have a lot of leftover mashed potatoes.  How will I ever go back to cooking with my crockpot again?  It will be out of necessity of cooking with two small children I am sure.