after 9 long weeks....

Look what finally came back from the long arm quilters !

She was really backed up and isn't taking a new work until after the new year. 

That means the "matching" quilts I had in the works for the twins as a Christmas gift

has been pushed back until their 1st birthday's.

Once the little one was down for nap time, I started attaching the binding, this yummy pink

fabric. I finished it in under 2 hours and now it's tumbling around in the dryer.

I decided to machine sew the back of the binding, mainly because I had already "messed" up the front of the quilt (do you see it?) so I gave up on trying to have perfection.

I still really love the way it came out.

The finished size is 39"x 48" and it is backed in plain white fabric.

...after

This is the doll quilt after washing and drying. All puffy, crinkly and soft.

It came out better than I had hoped.

The good news is that I have no use what-so-ever for a doll quilt, unless G.I Joe wants to use it for an emergency shelter....

That means it's up for grabs, leave a comment if you like it and want it, and you have a sweet dolly who needs it :)

before....

I saw this ragged squares quilt tutorial at one of my favorite blogs and I knew I had to try it. I figured small scale was best to begin with, so I have my first ever doll quilt.

It is a petite 26" by 26" square.

I also used the opportunity to use quite a few of my fabric scraps, hence the crazy off the wall color scheme.

...this was before washing....

sewing and drinking...

I have been wanting to make a fabric banner for a really, really long time now.

So I am.

I am also drinking a mug of hot chocolate buried in mini marshmallows. 

That's only because the weather has finally plunged to under 60 degrees and it feels fabulous.

I am also making a batch of jumbo chocolate chip cookies.

That's my Saturday in a nutshell.

[a twin thing]

The top to Aria's quilt is done.

I started the quilt top for Chase and already have it 1/2 pieced.

I would like to get these two done and off to the quilter's in time for Christmas presents.

(That means STOP PEEKING BREEZE !)

crayon rolls

I have been looking at these crayon rolls on etsy for awhile now.

I looked around and found an easy tutorial on chocolate on my cranium blog.

So I made one for my niece in South Carolina, who is celebrating her 2nd birthday today.

Then Kegan took a look and decided he too wanted one. I knew I had all that extra expensive baseball fabric for a reason.

So I made him one, very "boyish" with the baseballs and the navy blue star fabric. Kegan specified exactly what crayons he wanted in there and the particular order.

These were really easy to make. I don't think I had the right interfacing though. According to the directions it should have ironed onto the fabric, but the interfacing I had was very heavy and thick and I had to pin it in place.

Still super easy.

Good idea for stocking stuffers, no ?

oldie but goodie

Nothing much is going on in the way of quilting. I am still waiting on the blankets that I have out at the quilters. It's been 4 weeks now and I am starting to get anxious.

This quilt is one of my very first ones, if not the first. Ryan was getting ready to donate a huge pile of button down shirts and I snagged them and cut them all up and into this quilt.

Quite a few of the shirts had special meanings. The yellow and black checkered one he wore on our second date. The light blue one with the sailboats he wore with Kegan when we had our first family photos taken.  You get the picture.

I finished this top and I kid you not, it hung in the closet for over an entire year. I had no idea how to quilt it, or bind it. NO IDEA. Finally one day I was talking to a co-worker who had just started to quilt and I told her about the top and she said she would finish it for me.

Nothing fancy. Plain blue backing and binding with a straight stitch to quilt it all. The finished size is really odd. 48" by 77". Almost big enough to fit a twin bed but not really.

It's one of my favorites. The top is so soft and worn, the shirts remind me of my husband and it's just the right size to lay with on the couch.