What I've been up to....

Word Girl, 2. July Birdhouse mini quilt, 3. Katys felt bird quilt2, 4. Katys quilt package, 5. Needlebooks, 6. Satin spider apron, 7. Halloween Apron, 8. Ghost apron, 9. Friendly Frankenstein apron, 10. Halloween aprons 2008, 11. Sewing kit bag, 12. sewing kit swap, 13. Felt Frankenstein & Ghost Pins, 14. Birdhouse quilt top, 15. Tooth pillow

Here are some of the projects I've been working on in July. The ghost/ frankenstein apron and Word Girl costume are staying here with us, but most of the other things have already been sent on to their new homes. See. . .even though I haven't posted much this month I have been busy crafting! I have a tutorial for the tooth pillow. You can download the Tooth Pillow pdf here.

We Were Spoiled!!!

Val from Yarni Gras! was my partner for the Booming Aprons Beat the Heat Halloween Apron Swap. Val and her kids really spoiled Nature Girl and I! Look at some of the goodies she sent for us. She sent an apron for Nature Girl, two sets of amazing cupcake toppers, seeds for pumpkins & gourds, Halloween place cards and several recipes that I can't wait to try. They also sent two cute crocheted tank tops and two plush bags for Nature Girl. They were missing at photo time since Nature Girl was thrilled with them and has added them to her stash! She kept saying "That girl spoiled us!" They really did spoil us! Thank you!!!!!

And look at my apron!!! I love it!!! Val used Lucy's Sassy Apron pattern, which I had been admiring! I've been trying to slow summer down and enjoy my last few weeks at home before beginning work, but this apron is bringing out my fall spirit! I wore it today even though it was 80 plus degrees and sunny! By the way Nature Girl took the photo of my apron(that's Toot my pig doorstop in the corner, he mostly collects dust but I love him.) Val took some lovely pictures of the aprons and goodies.
Speaking of fall and Halloween, we started Nature Girl's Halloween costume. Yes, I know it's still only July but we've known for 3 months what Nature Girl wants to be for Halloween. Can you guess? If you guessed Word Girl, you got it. Of course most people have no idea who Word Girl is. She's a superhero with super vocabulary on PBS Kids. We're word Girl fans here.
This weekend one of Nature Girl's cousins is having a superhero birthday party and we needed a superhero costume. So we started our Word Girl costume. We still need to make the hood and some red shorts but we've got a good start. I had our little Word Girl defining words during the picture shoot. She defined dazzling and predicament for us. It made us laugh!
We also made a Batman tee shirt and cape for the birthday boy to wear at the party and a superman cape for his little brother. Hopefully we'll have some fun superhero pictures to share after the party on Sunday.

We Be Pirates!

Nature Girl's first job aspiration was to be a pirate. She's also added being a cook and a baseball player to her list of job aspirations but we thought it would be fun to be a pirate for a day. Pirate Adventures in Hyannis, MA. was on our summer fun list. We've already checked off a bunch of items on our list so Saturday we drove to The Cape and boarded the Sea Gypsy.The kids got to be part of the Sea Gypsy Crew. They wore pirate vests and got pirate tattoos. Nature Girl asked for a flower tattoo, she's a real tough pirate- lol! After heading out to sea the crew had to put together a puzzle to get the treasure map. Here's Nature Girl checking out the map.
Then they had to look out for sea monsters, a message in a bottle, a bad pirate named Slash who wanted to steal their treasure and of course the treasure. When they found Slash they had to do battle and try to sink his ship with water cannons. Nature Girl had fun but was a timid pirate! She wouldn't squirt Slash with the cannons and some of the pirate talk was too much for her. But all in all it was a fun adventure! All of the kids went home with a handful of treasure.
We had to rescue the bad pirate Slash from his sinking ship and he shared his grog(orange soda) with the crew. Nature Girl says the whole thing was her favorite part. My favorite part of the adventure was when the crew had to put their right hand over their left eye and swear to keep both feet on deck at all times, to take turns with the water cannons and to share the treasure with their crew!
I had the great idea to make us pirate shirts for the pirate adventure. I had planned to paint the skull design I had drawn but I discovered that I'd have to paint a lot of layers to get it dark enough to show on the black tee shirts. Of course I started this project the night before the trip so time was limited. In my defense we moved the trip up a day in anticipation of bad weather. In the end I decided to cut the skulls and crossbones from felt. I stayed up way too late working on these shirts and in the end the only Nature Girl wore her tee shirt. It was 90 degrees so we opted not to bake in the black tee shirts! Nature Girl was happy with hers and my husband and I can always wear them for Halloween.
Saturday morning I went thrifting with MB and found a bag of Potato Heads and accessories. When we cleaned them up we found this Potato Head Pirate. I also found a few other toys I plan to take to school with me this fall. I accepted a teaching position in a local school district. I'll be teaching special ed at the preschool and early elementary level. This job is similar to what I did in my before child life. I start teaching at the end of August so if I seem to disappear for a bit this fall that's why.

A Surprise Package and a New Swap

It's been a week since I blogged, not because I didn't have anything to blog about. I haven't blogged because I've been busy. We took in a play, a magic show, story time, a jewelery party and a family adventure this week so we've been busy! I also finished packages for 4 swaps this week and have three more in the works. I can't show you any of those things since they were just mailed out Friday and haven't reached their final destinations yet. I'll share pictures next week once the items have made it to their new homes. I also have another simple sewing tutorial for kids that I hope to share in a few days.

This was a surprise package that arrived from Pattie this week. Pattie has a wonderful blog called Attitude Changes Everything! She had a blog contest this summer and I won a nine patch quilt block. Pattie sent two blocks and this fabulous Chenille making kit to us. Did you know you can make Chenille? I didn't. It looks like a lot of fun and Nature Girl and I can't wait to give it a try! She's picked out a cat quilt block and I've picked out a sheep block to make.
Did you notice the sign Pattie included for me? "Finished is Waaaay better Than Perfect!" I've been planning to make a sign for my desk that says "Progress not Perfection." Pattie knew that and included this sign for me. This sign is going to go up in my work area once I clean it up and organize it again. Thanks Pattie!!!

My bloggy friend Susan is hosting a Strawberry Swap. You need to make one handmade strawberry item and the rest of the items can be purchased. You also include a strawberry recipe with the swap. To get more info or to sign up go here. This is one of my favorite strawberry recipes.

Strawberry/Spinach Salad


1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup veg. oil
1/4 cup cider vinegar
2 tbsp. sesame seeds
1 tbsp. poppy seeds
3/4 tsp. garlic salt
1/4 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1/4 tsp. Paprika
Spinach
Strawberries

Mix all together let stand about 24 hours mixing occasionally throughout. Put spinach in a bowl with strawberries, mix. Mix in above dressing just before serving.

Hint: I add the dressing to each individual bowl of salad so the leftover salad doesn't gets soggy and I can eat it later.

Goodies

I missed my quilt guild meeting last week while we were on vacation. I had a friend bring the raffle gift, the gift for my secret pal and my block for the swap. This is what I received from my secret pal. The fabric is Michael Miller and the appliqué book and kit are perfect since I need to learn to appliqué in August. It's the theme for the August mini quilt swap and I already have my idea. I just need to to learn how to do it, so the book will come in handy! I sent the cherry note book and a cherry needlebook for my secret pal. I hope she didn't feel totally jipped! I'll have to come up with something better for my secret pal in August.

The block on the left is the block I received in the swap and the one on the right is one I made. I've been making two blocks, one for the swap and one for myself so I can see how much I've learned. I kept the wonkiest 9 patch block for myself and sent the better one for the swap.

Saturday morning we headed to our favorite thrift store. We haven't been in 5 or 6 weeks, so we were excited to go. It was a good trip! We found more kids books because you can never have enough, especially when you're a teacher. Nature Girl found a Dr. Suess flash light shaped like the fish from the Cat in the Hat. She was pretty cute wearing her felt Cat in the Hat hat and playing with her flashlight. I didn't take a picture of that but I did get a picture of my goodies.
I found a prim crow shutter, an appliqué quilt kit, some green corduroy and this frog fabric. It's on a roll and looks like it's a wallpaper border but it's actually a roll of fabric. I'd guess there is about 4 yards of the frog fabric. I thought it was cute. I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate it into a mini quilt. Any ideas? I was thinking it might look good with a strip of frogs across the top and bottom with some blue that looks like water for a pond in the center. I guess it could always be used for borders around a quilt.

Nature Girl Sews and A Quick Tutorial

That's right, Nature Girl sews! She completed her first sewing project while we were on vacation. She insists this is her second sewing project since she helped me stitch on one of my projects a few months ago. So call it a first or call it a second sewing project, either way we were both proud of the finished project! She sewed this bookmark with a little assistance. She did very well and quickly picked up the running stitch. I love the wobbliness of the stitches and I am so proud of my little crafter!

Here's her finished bookmark in a book. Now we're looking forward to trying a few more sewing projects this summer. I discovered a site called Kids Sewing Projects. It has some great projects for kids who are beginning to sew. Try some of the projects at Kids Sewing Projects or try our tutorial for the felt bookmark. Happy sewing!

Felt Bookmark Tutorial:
Materials:
12 inches of ribbon
felt(cut two flower shapes and two shapes for the bottom)
safety pins
embroidery thread
needle
Place the ribbon between the two felt flowers. Pin in place with safety pins. Sew around the flower using a running stitch. Make sure to stitch through the ribbon so it will stay in place. Then sew your pieces to the bottom of your ribbon. Again make sure you stitch through the ribbon. I did two sets of leaves on the bottom of this bookmark but you can sew just one set on the bottom.

We sewed flower bookmarks this time. We want to try this again and make a felt bird bookmark as a gift for a friend.
Edited: Nature Girl's bookmark project is now on Kids Sewing Projects. You can see it here.

We're back!

Long time, no post!!! We were on vacation in Northern NY State for a week and though we took lots of pictures we didn't post while we were away. We arrived home tonight and are all excited to be able to sleep in our own beds tonight! It's nice to go away on vacation but I think the best part of a vacation is coming home and sleeping in your own bed again!!

We spent a week with my husband's family. Nature Girl played with her cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles for a week. We even had a few adventures along the way. Nature Girl brought along our Little People On the Road Swap softie. We finally picked a name for her. Lisa suggested Adventure Bunny and since this little bunny is going on summer vacations and adventures with us it seems appropriate(Thanks to all of you who suggested names for our bunny friend.) The picture above was taken on the ferry from Grand Isle, VT to Plattsburgh, NY. The ferry crosses Lake Champlain where it has long been rumored that "Champ" a lake monster still lives. Nature Girl and Adventure Bunny looked for Champ but we didn't spot him. Christy, do you recognize the dress? It's the one you made for her, she still loves it!


We visited 4-H Camp Overlook in Mountain View, NY while we were in NY. Both my husband and I spent summers there as kids. My husband worked as a camp councilor there as a teenager. We took a tour around the camp and a hike in the woods before joining the campers for lunch. It was lots of fun. Adventure Bunny enjoyed it too. Nature Girl spotted this neat looking leaf on the hike and took this picture of the leaf and Adventure Bunny.
We worked on some crafts while on vacation too. Nature Girl completed her first ever sewing project. I'll post pictures of that in a few days. I hope you're having a great summer. I'm off to go sleep in my own bed for the first time in a week. I'm so excited! It's nice to be home again!!!! Now I have to catch up on my blog reading and the laundry.

Needlebook Tutorial

When I saw this cute cherry notepad at JoAnn Fabrics I just loved it. I'm doing a secret pal activity with my quilt guild. Each month you bring a little gift for your secret pal. I knew this would be a great gift for my secret pal. It made me think of the jam jar cover tutorial over at LucyKate Crafts. That inspired me to create this cherry needlebook.

These are for my secret pal but I liked the needlebook so much that I had to make one for myself. This is my first needlebook. I had so much fun making these and decided a tutorial was in order.


If you'd like to make a cherry needlebook you can download the tutorial and pattern here. Happy sewing!

Special thanks to Susan for editing this tutorial for me! I'm looking forward to making a few more this week to give as gifts! Yep, one will be for Susan.
Also thanks to my husband who is my technical support. Without him I wouldn't be able to upload a tutorial. Thanks honey, you're the best!

A Few Quilts

I received this fabulous mini quilt from Beth for the June Mini Quilt Swap. I love the fabrics and the color combination. And this is my first hand quilted quilt. I love it!

This was my idea for the DQS4 swap but I'm not sure it's going to work. I wanted to include a house a tree and a bird in the quilt. I also added a sun and a mini quilt which will eventually look like it's hanging on a clothesline between the house and tree once I quilt it. I pieced everything together as I went but I think I need a lot more practice with piecing. It doesn't lay perfectly flat despite pressing as I went. The top of the tree really seems to pucker and I'm not sure I'll be able to quilt it with out it bunching. I was thinking of sewing around the edge of the tree and stuffing the pink portion a bit to take up some of the excess space. I guess the obvious thing to do is take a quilting class on piecing but that would require too much time right now. I could also learn to appliqué on the designs I suppose but it's too late for this one. Does anyone have any suggestions for better piecing with out puckering?

This was another attempt at piecing. I made the mini bird quilt for the May Mini Quilt Swap and thought I'd try it on a larger scale. The blue fabric ended up being a bit stretchy and really puckers up in spots so again I'm not sure I'll be able to quilt this one either. I had planned to add green and white polka dot leaves to the branches and wings on the birds. I also debated on adding a sun in the top left corner which made me think of Bob Marley's song Three little birds. You know: "Rise up this mornin', smiled with the risin' sun, three little birds pitch by my doorstep singin' sweet songs, of melodies pure and true, sayin', "This is my message to you-ou-ou:" Singin': "Don't worry 'bout a thing 'Cause every little thing gonna be all right." It's a great song but really I'm one bird short and I'm not sure this experiment in piecing will work. I should just learn the basics but instead I like to wing it and see what I can do. Sometimes it works and some times it doesn't.
I hope you are all having a great 4th of July weekend!