Thursday, December 24, 2009

Christmas Memory

Kelly is having a giveaway/walk down memory lane and it is fun to join in!

My favorite Christmas morning memory is the year mom did a doll house for us four girls...beautiful wooden Victorian house...looking back now, I can't imagine the hours she put into it...there was wallpaper, carpet, crochet rugs, bed linens, paintings on the walls and tons of furniture with the doll family.  It was simply wonderful.  My sister now has the house, in near perfect condition, wish I could get a pic to post here, but time doesn't allow.

Wishing you all a very Merry and safe Christmas season.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Christmas present

I found this pattern in Amanda Blake Soule's newest book, Handmade Home. The book is in very high demand from my local library and for very good reason. It is cool. Lots of good ideas...this is what I accomplished before I had to return my copy...and get back on the waiting list.




The bags are for my good friend who is forever at the beach or taking her girls hiking...and in our visit to them this summer I found everyone was always bringing treasures home from the beach or trail. The idea is to use window screen so that the sand or dirt or whatnots can sift thru the bag before they are forever in your car,van, or carpet. great, huh? And...it just so happened our screen door has slammed its last slam this summer, so I had lots of screen to work with...and the handles are from belts my mom has had in a bag for who knows how long!!

These are my first attempts at making bags, and they were very quick to make. I realize the pattern is very simple, but I like starting simple!

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Dear Santa,

I simply cannot help myself! All the girls on the playground are showing me their letters to you, Santa, and I have yet to write one! So here is the short list, dearest Kris Kringle...

This fab shop is offering to get my list directly into your hands....

I would dearly love some fabrics for Christmas:

any assortment of these prints would make me giddy.

and before it is too late, this lovely bundle would be put to good use.

and, since you are busy, and have a heavy load, this is always a well received gift.

Your biggest fan,

Jenny

Thursday, December 10, 2009

big boy bed

At a craft fair in November I found this terrific bed sheet for Hugo's bed. I love the illustrations on the top sheet and the pillow case. to the left is the pillowcase and below are a close up and overall view of the flat sheet.

Have you ever seen anything like this? It is old and nearly thread bare in spots, and the flat sheet has a hole or two, but I am in love!

The illustrations remind me of Ezra Jack Keats illustrations.









Sophie's pillow

My sweet 10 year old niece just welcomed her 4th younger brother and for such a thing...she gets a makeover of her bedroom. She choose purple and green colors. I made this pillow using the tutorial at Tallgrass Prairie Studio. I will be giving this to her for Christmas. The tutorial was very easy to follow and I was excited to try it out.

I don't think this will be my last pillow. I like small projects!


Here is a picture of the back of the pillow using a Kaffe fabric that I do not remember buying.

Chloe's quilt



Here is front and back of a quilt I finished last year for my niece, Chloe. I had other plans to post a finished pillow, but our furnace has decided to NOT work on the coldest, windiest day imaginable...it is nap time now, and if it's not fixed by end of nap, we are picking up and going to camp out at the library for a while. It is 12 degrees and winds around 20mph I think.

Anyway, thought I would at least show you something I have completed, even though it has been over a year since finished. I love the square patchwork quilts...I should make them more often, but I also feel like there are so many 'cool' things to do with quilts, why do just squares? Will get picture of new pillow I made for my niece for Christmas in next day or too...

Brrrr....

Sunday, December 6, 2009

WINNER

Thanks everyone who entered...can you believe 421 of you lovely crafters stopping by my blog?
I can't to be quite honest, and I even picked up a few followers!!
Anyway, I would like to congratulate Holly! She is my winner!
I will email you shortly Holly.
Thanks everyone for playing!
And a special thank you to everyone who made suggestions or posted a link for Hugo's big boy quilt!

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Sew Mama Sew Give Away Day!

So the Giveaway day hosted by Sew, Mama, Sew starts tomorrow, but I have a free minute to do my post now with nap time...so let's get the party started!
My giveaway is 4 fat quarters of Anna Marie's Chocolate Lollipop line.










And because Colette and I are having so much fun with fabric covered button magnets, we made a set of 4 to give away as well!


The lovely Princess Pea and her slippers...as well as another print by Anna Maria Horner.
So please leave a comment to be entered to win. I will post internationally. I am thinking about making a quilt for Hugo's 'big boy' bed...so if you have any ideas for a twin size quilt for a 2 year old boy, please leave that in the comment...colors, patterns, a link to one you have made that turned out great. I will leave the giveaway open until December 6th and pick a winner that night.
If you have a minute, you should really check out the button on the top right of my blog to see all the other giveaways going on at Sew, Mama, Sew...but beware, it will be a huge time suckage!!