robyn's eggs

For mother's day this past year, I painted my mom a picture. Her name is Robyn so I decided to paint her some Robyn's eggs. When looking for inspiring photos to base my painting off of, I only found nests with 3 eggs inside. Since my mom has 4 children I decided to give her 4 eggs anyways... the 4th one is me! I couldn't leave myself out of the picture. :) and it worked perfectly because her kitchen is blue.

Things that I learned from this painting:

• the colors of the egg are different because of the reflections of the twigs around them.
• the twigs have blue in them because that is reflected from the eggs.

matchbox car town

I got this idea from my mother in law who made one for her kids when they were little. Some of my favorite features are the drive in garages, the drive thru at the McD's, the pump at the gas station and the drive thru car wash.

Quilt for 2

For my boy's 2nd birthday, I made him this quilt. I had a hard time picking out the right fabric and quilt pattern because most quilting stuff looks girly. But I finally decided on this sort of random looking pattern.
Things I learned making this quilt:

• Sheets make great quilt backs- especially when you buy them at Goodwill for $6! Cheapest quilt back I ever hear of and there are no seems!
• When you have extra backing fabric, fold it over to look like edging-- so much easier. I actually sewed it over once on the back and once on the front and you really can't tell that it is just the backing.
• Quilting with 2 colors (yellow and orange) is fun.
• piecing together the batting is really easy and make it cheaper!

buzz

This was my first painting that I have done totally on my own. I started a watercolor class 2 years ago and did 4 paintings, that I will share later, with the guidance of my teacher. It was a very liberating feeling to find out that I can paint on my own too. I do not think that this is my favorite painting by far-- however, I love it because of what it proved to me. That I can do it.

kimono

Excuse the fact that I put a girl shirt on my boy but he was the best model I could find. :) And he wouldn't hold still for me to take a decent picture. I got the idea for this shirt from my friend Emily B. and I am giving it to my friend Emily G. not to be confused with my friend Emily S. from previous posts.

On one of my recent snow days, my friend Em B. came over to learn to sew. She brought a pillow case from Target that she wanted to make into this kimono shirt. It turned out so cute that I had to make one too. We got the pillow cases new at Goodwill (from target) and used nothing extra except thread. What a deal!

Em B's kimono turned out better because she used a contrasting color for the binding around the neck. It was the perfect touch to make it more like a kimono and less like scrubs.

name banner

Here is my original name banner that I made. Dennis would have pulled it down if I hung it above his crib so I just put it on the other side of the room under his circle mobile (which is now his reading corner). Using bias tape and felt letters made this so easy to make. Once again, I got my original idea from Emily. I get a lot of ideas from her.

baby james

I love Baby James. He was born the day before my birthday. I got this great idea from my friend Emily to make banners. She created one that said "Celebrate" for any holiday... But I decided it would be a totally cute way to put a baby's name above the crib. I made this one with the left over fabric that I bought for his baby quilt.
This quilt pattern had ducks on it originally but I thought that was too girly for James. Sail boats were the perfect substitute since his dad likes to sail.

Things I learned while making this quilt:

• Bias tape edging is easy but expensive
• tucked under edging applique without freezer paper and following directions is pretty hard... but totally doable.
• piecing together a striped pattern fabric for the back is hardly noticeable
• flannel fabric shrinks A LOT in the wash. Buy way more of it than you would cotton fabric

cabin quilt

I started this quilt when I was in college in 2002. I lived in Sierra Condos and shared a room with my best friend Allison. Somewhere in between all of my activities I fit in time to start this quilt--keyword: START. Long ago I gave the quilt top to my mom thinking that she could finish it. But she didn't. Then she gave it back to me with fabric for the back. So, I finally finished it this January and gave it to my parents for a late Christmas present. It turned out pretty good. I think they are going to put it at the cabin.

Some things that I learned with this quilt:

• quilting on the diagonal is so much easier than vertical and horizontal (I quilt with my feeder still intact- I should invest in a quilting foot or whatever they use to do free hand quilting).
• When quilting vertically and horizontally one way is easier than the other because the fabric has some stretch in one direction but not the other. When stitching on the not stretchy direction it helped me to pull my fabric to the sides as I pulled it through my sewing machine (it also helped to pin a lot so that it doesn't bunch at the end). When stitching in the stretchy direction, it helped me to pull the fabric towards me and towards the back. (hmmm... maybe I should demonstrate that someday... not today)
• Using scraps for the binding worked pretty well and it was easier on my checkbook than buying binding or buying fabric just for the binding.
• I also pieces together a strip on the back of the quilt because I did not have enough fabric for the back. It looks artsy and it was also cheap!

Welcome to my crafty side

I have finally decided to make a blog for the things that I make. I think it will be fun to see and to remember them all. This blog is mostly for my own benefit, however, you are free to look around and if you have questions feel free to comment.

I found this awesome fabric at goodwill for $0.50/yard. I bought it not knowing what I was going to make with it but within the same day I found a good home for it in my kitchen. I really didn't like the fact that my backyard neighbors could see right through our house at night. Now, I have curtains that I can pull. I still don't have ties for the daytime but that will come in time.