Multi-Purpose Baby Gift.

Here is my very first, wrapped up, baby burp cloth and changing pad! I made it all last night for my mom to give to her friend as a baby gift and I absolutely love how it turned out. 

I love the colors and how well they work today. I'm completely in love with using jelly rolls now. I've been telling Alec and my Mom to have people get me them as gifts when they don't know what to get me for Christmas but, still feel obliged to get me some small gift. That is how much I love them. Jelly Rolls are so handy because they are all pre-cut and ready to roll. It makes for a quick and easy sewing time.

Here is the front of it; I know it is wrinkled looking but, that is because it was folded up before the picture.

Here is the fabric I used on the back of it. I love how it looks like a bandanna. This is the card I put with it. I made it out of some basic scrapbook paper.

I loved making it so much that I made another one before work this morning. I'm still trying to get a handle on the block technique so the corners lay flat. The satisfaction of completing a project is really great, especially when it only takes a few hours from start to end.

Here is the very center of the block.

I added on one fabric as a border outside of the block.

I know this looks like the same fabric on all sides but the top and bottom are actually different than the sides. Like I said, I love love this fabric and the colors.

Here is my second one all bonded and laying out on a lawn chair at work today. I finished just in time to take it with me to work where I could stitch the binding. 

This is the back fabric. I like this one even better than the first, Now that I have most of the kinks worked out. When I make a mistake it doesn't really bother me. I think it gives it the homemade feel.

I put the second one at the store to see if anybody would be interested in buying it. I made it its own little tag, too. If anybody wants to buy one let me know!

Another Late Night in My Sewing Room

I have been in my sewing room since Alec left around 9:30 and its now 12:30! I finally got to sink my thread into my new jelly roll that my mom and I bought for a project I'm doing. I posted on it earlier but, I started and finished this baby gift all tonight and will post pictures all up tomorrow. Well, Its not completely finished. I still have to turn on an episode of Grey's Anatomy on Netflix and finish up the binding. 

Even better news: Both of these adorable owl pillows sold today! Two girls came into the shop while I was working today and could not get enough of them. They told me to hold onto them and not let ANYONE ELSE buy them. I'm so thrilled that they are going to good homes where they will be well appreciated. The best part was how they were carrying them around the store in their arms. I can't wait to make some more, maybe I'll even experiment with other animals. 

I figured I'd share some step by step photos of the process I went through for this huge painting I made back during the school year. I had a bit of an idea but the final piece was completely different than what I planned. Its actually just sitting in the closet of my sewing room not even being used as of right now, too. It deserves at least a little bit of attention so, here we go:

And there is the final piece! I like the colors on the bottom and how the bright colors merge into her skin tones the best. Besides that, this painting is too fairy-esque for me. I'd be glad to hear your opinions on it, though!

Love What You Love Without Apology.

Today I finished " The Year of Pleasures" by Elizabeth Berg. I found this book at The Trading Post and loved every minute I spent reading it. The story follows a woman who , after her husband's death, packs up her car and drives until she finds a little town that she likes. After moving there she deals with the loss of her husband, reunites old friendships, creates new ones and follows her dreams. 

The book was adorable but, my favorite parts were the descriptions of the store she opened up called "What a Woman Wants." Just thinking about a place that sells fancy soaps, aprons, has a create-your-own-perfume bar, a wine and dessert bar, and a recipe book for women to add or copy recipes from makes me smile. Above this store in the novel there was a rent your own escape apartment for women's get away weekends with a bear claw tub, a stocked cupboard of hair products and candles: My dream store.

This Sunday my Mother and I stopped at A-Z Antiques in Hemlock, searching for items that would make up for my lack of yard sailing this summer. I found this cute little trinket shaped like a dryer; when you open it you find a little ceramic shirt. I fell in love with it, have no idea why, and had to buy it. I don't keep little useless items like this typically but, like I said, I love it. 

At this antique store we also picked up a bag of fabric and were looking at buttons. The owner asked if I was a seamstress and to my delight gave me a shopping bag and told me to take whatever I wanted from these drawers stocked with sewing heaven! I sat right on the floor and discovered old thread, binding fabric, buttons, and tons of lace ribbon! I was clearly in my glory and It made my entire day.

The clouds the last two days have been so perfect. They honestly look like clouds from an old oil painting. I have spent at least an hour staring at them and had to take a picture. It has been raining on and off but we've needed the temperature change. We were really slow at work today so I managed to finish my book and this sign I made for my graduation party. Its going to go by my senior pictures and it turned out better than I had hoped. 

I still have not decided if I'm going to leave it in this wooden whatcha-ma-call-it or sew it onto a bigger piece of fabric. I hope people at the party like it as much as I do. I also started reading "The Message", a translation of the bible into Contemporary English. Its easy to understand and makes me feel good to read. I hope everyone is staying cool and still crafting. More soon!

We Have Catching Up To Do

Today, my man and I went to the lake! I ended up having to work this morning but, got out by two and then we were on our way! We had a nice time on the way there; I love spending time in the car together. Once we were there we spent hours tanning in the sunshine and enjoying the warm lake water. It was so perfect. I love our relaxing Sunday getaways at the lake. 

Here is the quilt I have been waiting to post! I have been working on this baby since February. It was one of my first posts, actually. You can find details on it from before right here. Anyway, It is finally finished and sitting on my bed. This is also the quilt I'm planning on taking to school with me. Meowzers really seems to like it, too.

Here is a picture from right after I finished the binding at work. I sat right in this chair, my new favorite chair to work on bindings in, and finished it! 

The binding is fairly rugged because it was my first one but, I learned a lot from it. This quilt is far far from perfect. I know that all of the mistakes make it more meaningful because It shows that I am growing as a quilter. Hopefully, my next quilt will turn out even better. 

I found this adorable idea  a few days ago and decided to get right to work. I didn't have any cute baby fabrics so I just started working with scraps I had on hand. The good thing about having to work this morning was I had time to hand stitch the binding on it. Instead of a baby changing cloth it turned more into a mini quilt but, I might end up still putting velcro on it and maybe somebody who is into these colors, like me, and appreciates a good homemade quilt will still want it for their baby. 

 My favorite part about it is how it looks all rolled up! I didn't velcro it yet so I've been carrying it around all day with this ribbon on it. I love looking at it like this kept it right on the kitchen counter because it looks so precious all bundled up. 

I can't wait to make more; they are so quick and fun to create. Hopefully I'll get a hold of some yellows, oranges, and blues to make more baby changing mats/ burp cloths/ all purpose need-to-have baby mini quilts.

Day in Heaven..or Just Spent Sewing

I woke up at 10:30am from the best sleep this morning, I didn't want to move. I don't want to get to graphic but, lets just say there was drool involved. By the time I showered and put on a little summer dress Alec  was over and we were making homemade pancakes. I made his special with chocolate chips. This picture above is from a while ago; I absolutely love it because I look so incredibly happy and Alec looks like he is staring lovingly at me. I love making food for Alec because I am good at cooking and baking and he appreciates being fed! This picture below is from when i made him lunch (steak-umm and provolone sandwiches)  while he was playing xbox.

After breakfast he left for work and I spent the remainder of the day sewing! I adore days like this where I have nothing to do except sew. I made my last set of "block swap" squares with some ugly fabric but, they were basically the last two color combinations of floral print I had left. The block swap is over with this month so all I have left to do is put all the squares together into a quilt. With my last set of blocks done, I went to the quilt shop to drop them off and then took Shadow, my dog, for a walk. I keep ignoring my goal to exercise daily so I decided to work on it today. 

I found this amazing little idea today while blog surfing! My mom had been asking me to make her something to give as gifts to her pregnant friends and I knew this was it. Check out the link if you want but, I'll have a detailed post soon on it because its almost done already! I also finished another quilt but have not gotten pictures up yet.  I went up to my Aunt's house and she gave me a jelly roll and tons of fabric all ready to make a new quilt! She's the best. I definitely have many projects to keep me busy this month. So, more to come.

On another note, here are some pictures from Brockport Orientation last month. These are the girls I was hanging out with during my trip and  I can't wait to see more of them next month! This was right before the end of the night. There was kan-jam, a DJ, free stuff, chicken wings and much more. I figured I'd post the photos just for fun.

Here is my cat, Meowzers, eating some yogurt. This is an old picture but, she enjoyed today just as much as I did. She laid asleep in the same spot almost the entire day, except for when she decided to relocate to the sewing room. She kept crawling on my ironing area and sprawling out right where I was working. 

Hopefully I find more days like this in the near future. Hope all of you are still creating. 

Cute Cafe and Cozy Coffee Lounge

We used to have a huge, beautiful wood crafted table centered on this rug at the Trading Post but, we sold it! These wicker chairs used to sit around it and since it is no longer living in the shop we had to rearrange and redecorate. Liz moved these cute cafe tables onto the rug and I moved them in closer to this old dresser with shelves. I also added some mix and match candles from around the store.  Some kids even sat in this little cafe area today. Not only is this space now visually appealing but, its functional!

I moved these other chairs to the opposite side of the shop and filled this old basket with magazines, books and a candle. I think the two cozy spaces are adorable and hope people actually decide to sit in them, or even better, choose to buy them so they can recreate a similar area in their own homes!

These chairs had nowhere to go after the table left so, I created two mini relaxing areas around the store. I moved this rug with the chairs over to our coffee bar, so people can sit and relax if they decide they want coffee. I used this wood carved mushroom to go in between them. I might even sit here tomorrow and quilt with some coffee. I still have to finish hand stitching the binding on my quilt for my dorm room but, pictures will be up soon hopefully.

Dorm Design

Here is me all decked out in my college gear and ready to go! Today my mom met me after work and we went to TJ Maxx and Walmart to go dorm room shopping. I had so much fun. I got tons of fabulous decor for my room. My color scheme is light greens and dark, chocolate brown. I wanted to avoid all things plastic, fake looking, and obnoxious colored or print. 

We made out with a brown wicker basket and two "party tubs" from Better Homes and Gardens that are green. I'm going to use these under my bed for storage and probably to hold clothes. Then I got this perfect comforter set that is green with leaves on it. It matches all of my throw pillows perfectly. We got a reed diffuser with a delicious vanilla scent and a cute little vase to match. Then we finished up with some green and brown towels and wash cloths. 

We also picked out some adorable "Thank You" cards that I will send out after my Graduation Party. It was a wonderful success and I can't wait to put everything together in my dorm room.

The Key to Happiness!

 I just finished reading "The Happiness Project" by Gretchen Rubin and absolutely loved it. I knew that I wanted this book from the moment I saw it at Anthropology in the mall but, I didn't buy it. The next time I went to the mall I still wanted it so, I knew it was time to buy it. I finally finished it, which is hard to do during the school year when you are swamped with schoolwork. If you can't read it, the cover says "or, why I spend a year trying to sing in the morning, clean my closets, fight right, read Aristotle, and generally have more fun." The story is about a woman who wants to be happier so creates a plan to be happier based on resolutions for each month, measurable goals that coincide with each resolution, and commandments to use as a guideline. Anyway, the book is simply inspiring.

Happy 4th of July

I did manage to bake this flag cake! I was out of parchment paper so my cake stuck to the edges of the pan, I ran out of sugar, I didn't have enough eggs and It took me hours and hours of cleaning, mixing, baking, running to the store for eggs, and more cleaning to make this baby but, the cake was completed and was a hit! I personally don't like cream cheese frosting with vanilla cake but, the people who ate it thought it was pretty good. I got this clever idea from Glorious Treats who got the idea from 17 and Baking.

Mine didn't turn out as pretty as theirs did but, for a first try attempt I think it was okay. Next years cake will be better, I'm sure! I forgot to mention that I ran out of red food dye, too. That is why I have one pink layer in the cake and only blue frosting on the top. I thought it looked like a "its a boy" cake. We have three boxes of food dye in my house, all missing the red dye. Anyway, I had an amazing holiday weekend. Alec and I were kept busy with family parties for what seemed like days. They were all fun, though.

My cousin just got back from basic training! This is him and his adorable son, Ryan. I went to see them today and had such a great time playing with Ryan and spending time with Manny. They have both grown up a lot since I've seen them last and I can't wait to see them again.

I'm almost done with the quilt I've been working on for what seems like forever. I'll hopefully finish it tomorrow and share some photos. Hope every one's weekend was as great as mine.