Sunday Stash

Today I'm featuring some fabrics I got at my LQS yesterday.

First, Sandi Henderson Farmer's Market flannel and Valori Wells Urban Flannel. Love them! Got enough for a baby quilt back each.


Then I got some pinks to make frames for some wonky modern squares I'm planning for my very own bed quilt! Won't these make great outer frames for some beautiful squares?


And finally this one, Heather Bailey Freshcut. I don't normally really like orangey yellow or acid green, but I just can't stop staring at this fabric! Click to make it bigger and see for yourself. It's very satisfying.

Cheers!
Wendy

100th Post!

For my 100th post, I have a short video I took of Gigi this rainy morning, playing in a "puddle" on the deck. It's not much of a puddle, but plenty for a 20 month old to play in! See if you can spot the black cat she's talking to in the first seconds (he's up behind the grill!).

Thanks for 100 posts!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Blogaversary to Me! Giveaway Winners

Time to announce the winners! The random number generator picked #1! Who says #1 never wins?
Jenny said...
What a fun giveaway! Thanks for the chance...Id love to see something in plush my daughter would draw!!!

Congrats Jenny, have your daughter draw something and email it to me right away!

I had such a nice time reading all of your wonderful, sweet comments, especially Kathie who really touched me when she said her favorite post was the Gigi waffle post. That's my favorite too! That really was super super sweet. I was so touched I decided to give away the fabric as well. The second winner is SewCalGal!

SewCalGal said...
Congratulations on your blogging Anniversary. You really do have a creative blog that I enjoy reading.Your give-away idea is certainly fun. And very nice of you to do. I'm sure whomever wins will enjoy your prizes. I know I would.As I love to make charity quilts for kids, I'd be happy to win any fabric that would help to make such quilts. And, as I'm working on a couple of different fundraisers, I think one of your cute handmade toys would also be great in a gift basket. So, I am very flexible - if I win, you decide.Keep quilting, sewing & blogging!

Congrats winners! I wish I could give everyone a prize, I really do. I heart you all!


It's my 97th post and also my first blogaversary! It was on August 22 of last year that I posted Gigi's Heart of My Heart quilt as my very first post. It took a while to get readers, but now I've got a few (that's you)!

Of course I have to have a giveaway to celebrate! Here's the catch: the only ones eligible to win will be those of you who have commented at least once on my blog in the last year. If this is your first time here, have fun looking around and come back next time I have a giveaway! This one is exclusively to thank my loyal blog commenters/readers.

Since this giveaway is for a small group of people, I'm making the prize personal as well. Whomever wins, I will let you pick your prize!

Choice #1: A medium amount of regular quilt store fabric from my stash in your choice of color way/theme (sorry, I just can't part with my premium designer stash!). I have tons of kitties and doggies, Asian, novelty, repros, flannel, etc. All from an actual quilt store, not bargain basement.

Choice #2: A stuffed toy I will make just for you. Check out the stuffed toys i've blogged to see examples. Heck, i'll even make your toy from your own personal sketch and put your name on the back too! Such a deal, I tell ya!

So ok, start yer commenting now loyal commenters! I'll draw a winner Monday night after 7pm.

Who Needs Groceries??? Amy Butler News

OMG, this is such terrible news. Amy Butler has a new rug line coming out this month! This is awful. Not to mention, she has my absolute favorite Amy Butler fabric ever redone as a rug (the first photo, next to the shoes). I often see patterns in home dec that remind me of Amy Butler designs, but this is the ACTUAL fabric printed on the rug!!!! Sigh. I was just starting to enjoy eating groceries, but now i'll have to go without. I wish I could find some information on pricing, but I went to Chandra Rugs and her website and neither has any info. So I guess I'll hold onto the dream, right up until I see the thousands of dollars they cost!

So Exciting! A Peek at My Day Job

It's finally being installed! I plan museum exhibits for a living, but this is the first time I've researched and written an entire museum! It's an interactive discovery museum for kids in one of our Texas state parks. Ok, so it's only about 450 square feet inside this building, but hey, I packed a lot of stuff in there! You wouldn't believe how much work it is to plan an entire museum. It took a year!

This is the front of the building starting to be installed. There's a kid's crawl through tree entrance on the left and a book of animal track riddle answers going on that tiny standing tree. There will be 3ft wide low concrete markers on the ground all over the park with animal tracks embedded and a riddle. They have to come to the Discovery Center to find the answer.



Here's the start of the inside walls. It's a river-centered park, so it starts out in the woodland and swooshes into the river. There will be interactive components installed along these walls.


Exciting! I visit again next Thursday when there will be much more stuff to share.
Hugs <3 Wendy

Wordless Wednesday

Sunday Stash and Two Sweeties

For Sunday Stash today I have a bunch of scraps I just got from etsy. Orange above...


Multicolored below. Love those brown and orange Joel Dewberry birds! Love the raspberry Amy Butler maze! LOVE the grey and chartruse on the left (Park Slope?). Love.


Also love this little girl and our first grandson, her nephew. Yes, it's complicated when you are your husband's second family :) Gigi is our daughter and Axel is Mr. Ilovebabyquilt's 22 year old son's son. So nephew and aunt are being raised as cousins across the street from each other. Told you it was complicated! But aren't they cute???


Little Miss Chevious. I've got my hands full with this one.

Cheers!

I Finally Found Comfortable Jeans!

Yes, I know this is a quilt blog, but I have been searching for years for jeans that are comfortable for someone who wears a size 14 and has given birth to three children and i've finally found them! Old Navy currently stocks these so you can still get some if you wish. I have absolutely no affiliation with Old Navy in any way, just wanted to give you gals a tip.

I absolutely hate the way most jeans constrict your stomach, and I refuse to sit at work all day and be uncomfortable, so I haven't worn jeans in a while. To tell the mommy truth, i'd still been wearing maternity pants and my daughter is a year and a half! Well, the Dreamer jeans must have something stretchy in them because they hug you where they are supposed to, unlike maternity pants, but not too tight. The wierdest part is when you sit down, you can't even tell you've sat down, there's no change in stricture from standing up. It's actually kind of bizarre. They don't seem stretchy at all.

So anyway, just wanted to help out, as I have a sneaky feeling there are other quilters out there who may have extra in the stomach area and also want to be comfy and somewhat stylish. Am I right?

Just a Little Monster

My husband is a fabulous cartoonist and he is always drawing little characters. He drew this guy really quickly and asked me to make a stuffed animal for him. So I did!


Here he is, brought to life! He gave me a heck of a time turning those skinny arms and legs out, and trying to get stuffing to go into them, but I won that battle! I even used a fat quarter of monster fabric from a lot that my husband bought me at the quilt shop for a surprise. If you click on the photo you can see the scary monster faces in the fabric.


By nightfall, the monster had been taken over by my six year old and installed in his rightful place, next to all the other monsters and toys I've made. My sister makes these minky pillows for kids to tuck dolls into, aren't they great?

My son said the monster looked lonely, but he sure doesn't anymore, does he? He's got his arm around Ninja Bat and Ninja Bunny and he's smiling to beat the band.


So what do you say, have you ever made a stuffed toy? Want to try?

Giant Amy Butler Heart Quilt Finished!

Two finishes in one week is pretty darn amazing here in the land of 'I don't own a machine'!
I'm pretty proud that I got Finn's quilt and this one out the door in the same week. My sister asked me to make this one as a sister to this quilt.

Now I have to start on quilts for twin boys for their birthday coming up, and also one for MY bed! Imagine that...keeping a quilt I make. Huh. Never occurred to me.

Here's my 24 year old Heather and my six year old Wolf helping me pin the quilt. He's sure helping a lot, hey?


This thing is a monster! When you're hand piecing, it goes on forever.


Here is a closeup, but it's upside down. I tried to turn it around but it looked funny. The blocks are hearts.


Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Matching Onsies

My friend and co-worker Sarah wanted to make some onesies for Finn to go with his wonky squares quilt from my previous post. I made the little blocks and she used her machine to sew them on. Cute, huh? Click the photo to see them bigger.

The super talented Sarah transferred a font stencil and then hand embroidered an F on the right hand one - wow!

If you remember, I outlined a detail on the quilt in the VW print where Angela and Finn were the mom and son holding hands. I included that part of the picture in the four patch as well to echo the quilt. So sweet! Thanks Sarah!

Night Prowling Cats on a Fence

Hello all!
Hope everyone is having a great week. Today I'd like to feature a quilt I made for my boss and very good friend, Angela, and her daughter Avery. The photos were taken outside so they sort of "wash out" the real colors a bit, the blue background is actually very evocative of the night sky when seen in lower light. These are supposed to be cats out on the prowl by moonlight all lined up on fences (you can't see the fences of course because it's dark!).

Angela asked me to make this couch snuggle quilt for her and her daughter, using fabrics from some of Avery's favorite dresses she no longer wore. All of the cats were made using these dress fabrics, except for the red and purple floral, we bought that new. I love how it turned out. The yellow moon fabric I used as binding gives it a glow of moonlight around the edges. All of the cats have black button eyes, except for two which have blue eyes. These represent Angela and her daughter, but it's a secret! Shhh! I also quilted their names into the border and quilted in the ditch around the cats.

Enjoy!
Wendy