Library Bags

My brother and sister-in-law live about 15 minutes away, and since we have three little girls and they have five little girls, I will pause for a moment to allow you to imagine the good times, giggles and shrieking that occurs on a very regular basis.

...pause...

There - if that didn't bring a smile to your face, I don't know what would.

Every year for my nieces' birthdays, I pick a theme for presents for them all.  The oldest will turn 9 this summer (9!? How is that possible?), so they're still at the stage where fair is more important than customized.  Therefore, they all get the same thing.  Last year, it was stuffed horses...  This year, it's a custom library bag with a book and some trinkets inside.

I bought a couple yards of the main fabric as a backing for the schoolroom quilt - but the colors are much too subdued to stand up to the ROYGBIV-ness.  It was just sitting there in my craft room, when suddenly, one day, the Fat Quarter Shop put the entire line of fabric (Homeschool) on 50% off.  Well then.  That made it easy!  My girls and I picked out a 1/2 yd of fabric in five of the coordinating prints, and planned out library tote bags!  I think these girls are at the library even more than mine, if that's even possible.

R, the March girl, already has hers, and I heard today that C, the April girl, was expressing great angst over her lack of a personalized library bag.  Hold tight, C, you'll get yours on Saturday!

On the other hand, M has to wait until July, B has to wait until August and S has to wait until October! At least she's the baby, so she won't care.

I'm also excited about the book that's in C's bag - Crafty Chloe!  This will be absolutely perfect for C.  And no, her name's not Chloe.  That would be even more perfect, I suppose, but it's still pretty darn awesome.

Random funny story: the library actually called me between the taking of those two photos.  Turned out I returned a movie today without the disc.  Oops.

Dressed Up Bricks

My beautiful little six-month-old daughter prompted me to snatch up some Dress Up Days by Riley Blake before she was born.  I made this brick quilt, and made three of the dolls - one in each color.  The three dolls were sitting on the pile of presents under the Christmas tree on Christmas morning... so much fun!  We named them Faith, Hope and Charity.  The other two are well-loved, but the baby, absolutely loves hers.  It's such an easy toy to grab and suck...  it's the only one that she won't drop in order to eat.

The quilt is backed with mostly Hello Luscious Succulent Grunge (I really love that fabric!) but has some improv piecing of celery and purple.  It's bound in purple.  Huh.  I should get a pic of the back - it was my first improv work, and I really love it!

Here's a couple pictures of her enjoying Charity on her quilt...

Finish-A-Long, 2nd Quarter

Ok - I didn't join in the first quarter, but I have a pile of WIPs that need to get cranked out this quarter...  More than I like to have sitting around!  I was going to post a list in my craft room, just so I can see them all in one spot, but I thought that was too old-school.  And I am, well, a technology addict...  so here they are, blogged:

1. The Laura
The other two quilts turned out so nicely - the top is finished, I just need to baste, quilt and bind...  Here's the binding, top, backing.

2. The First Schoolroom Quilt
This top is finished - again, "just" baste, quilt and bind.

3. The Second Schoolroom Quilt
I don't know if we'll really use both in the schoolroom - maybe one will be given away, who knows, but this one is in pieces.  Finish the top, baste, quilt and bind.

4. The Birthday Bags
Each year, for my nieces on my side, I pick a birthday present theme and give them all the same thing.  Last year, it was stuffed horses.  This year, it's a customized library bag (complete with a new book inside and some little trinkets).  The March girly already has hers, but the April, July, August and October girls are in pieces...  that will be so lovely to have those in the gift closet, ready to go.

5. Catch up on the Sugar Block Club
Okay, I admit it.  I am so stinking intimidated by paper piecing.  I know that tons of people just love it, and that if I just try it, it probably won't be too bad.  But I allowed myself to get derailed in February because of the paper piecing.  I have to say, though, opening this box and getting a look at all those completely gorgeous fabrics made me itch to jump back in.

Other projects to do this quarter, but that haven't actually been started so they don't count towards the FAL:

6. Friendship Bag Swap
This swap on Flickr looked so cool the first round that I jumped in to join the second round.  Everyone makes a version of the exact same bag and fills it with goodies for their partner.  That's due by May 6th (if I'm shipping internationally).

7. Fabric Basket Swap
This one's similar - make a fabric basket and include some goodies.  That's due May 15th.

The Pretty Little Pouch Swap just opened after I signed up for these two - and since it's due May 13th, I just can't imagine trying to get quality work done and racing to finish three swaps simultaneously, especially with a wedding and whatnot in the first week of May.  Bummer!  Guess I'll have to wait for Round 8 on that one.

8. Sort charms for girls' bed quilts
I won a contest at Southern Fabric recently which allowed me to go ahead and get the remaining charms I needed for the girls' quilts!  As I'm making three quilts, each of which needs 280 charms, I need 840.  Do you know how many that is!  Sheesh!  But with the 231 I just got from them, I'm done.  Phew.  But now comes the "oh but I want that one" debate...  I have to make sure that my "the universe revolves around me because I'm the oldest" six year old doesn't win every debate.

9. Cut and prep my Noteworthy quilt
This one's just for me.  I absolutely adore Noteworthy, and used my Christmas money to get as much of it as I possibly could.  LOL.  I'm planning an hourglass quilt, where each square is a charm and a solid (one of three solids: blue, mustard and gray).  The red stripe is for the binding, and there's two blue prints in there just for me.  There's an orange print at the bottom for backing.

10.  Plan two different projects
I've won both these stacks lately - I've been on a lucky streak! - and need to figure out what to do with them.  Doesn't that second stack just glow?  I thought that was a great photo to end this pic-heavy post with!

Getting Careless

So I was so excited that these quilts were coming along so well... The Kelly is quilted, I made all the binding and started sewing it on... And then I got careless. I think I am done for the day!

A good nap's work

Sundays seem to be my best working days. The house is quiet... Everyone else is napping. The Alyssa is quilted! Just needs binding and a label, then a trip through the washer and it's done. That feels GOOD!

On to basting The Kelly.

Sweet Pouch Swap: Wrap Up

The other day, the girls and I found a package on our doorstep, opened it up and discovered this:

 It is all handsewn - can you imagine? I don't mind doing a bit of handsewing for embellishment, but the thought of tackling a whole project without my beloved sewing machine? Wouldn't happen! The girls have commandeered it, so I think I caught a glimpse of it today, but in a house with three little girls, anything with flowers and purple is gone! LOL! But Mama got the chocolate. I do share, but it's mine! Thank you Nancy in New Jersey... I don't think you have a flickr account or a blog, so I can't link to you, but I will email this post to you!  I am so happy to have it, and my girls are just loving it.  I think it was a princess-holder when I saw it this morning.  And the chocolate is delicious!

I needed a bit of chocolate today...  I came to the craft room and found my desk and sewing machine lovingly decorated in pink, purple and red sharpie.  I had left the almost-3 year old unattended while I was dealing with a situation that the 6 year old had gotten herself into...  Oh.  GOOF-OFF does wonders for cleaning, but my sewing machine is vaguely pink.  And stinky right now.   I have to wait to quilt later tonight when my room isn't so stinky.  I did take a picture, but if I look at it again, I might need some more chocolate.

Here's some pictures of the pouch I sent off - sorry if this is picture-heavy, but I couldn't resist "just one more picture" before I sent it off to Melanie Dramatic.  She's an extremely proficient sew-er / quilter / blogger, so I was distinctly intimidated, but I think that pouch was one of the nicest things I've ever made, so I'm proud of rising to the occasion!  It has a D-ring inside to clip a key fob on, so it can even be used as a purse.

It's a Noodlehead Open Wide pouch, with the Busy Bean's handle attached.  I thought it was a great size, and would love to make one for myself someday.  The handle and the key fob have lots of organic stitching on them to add stability, strength, and make them sit a bit easier in the hand.  There's a couple interior pockets.

Now I'm thinking about and planning my project for the Modern Scrappy Bits Swap.  I can't wait to see what I come up with for that!

The Laura: The Top

Since Laura's not going to be at the bridal shower in *less than two weeks,* I might not finish basting, quilting and binding by the March 4th deadline...  so here's a picture of the whole top.  See in the corner?  That's the other two tops.  I finished three tops in one afternoon.  That feels SO GOOD.

Alyssa's and Kelly's will have the same back, while Laura's back will be totally different - it will fit her personality, according to her maid-of-honor, yet another cousin.   So up next?  Piecing the backs!