Bottled Rainbow Quilt Along *Lime & Eggplant Blocks*

I've been working on a lot of different projects this week.  I finished up the lime & eggplant blocks for my Bottled Rainbow Quilt Along.  The lime I-spy block is jam packed with cute little animals (and a couch).  An alligator, a monkey, 1/2 of a frog, two owls, a turtle, three birdies, & an elephant. 

The eggplant block was a challenge for me.  Even with the help of two friends, it was hard to come up with enough scraps for this block.  My Dad says he "loves it", I say, "eh..it's not my fav."  Maybe that's because it's all flowers and no little critters, who knows (except the Halloween cat)?

I had a few "firsts" this week.  My first "first" is that a girlfriend of mine asked me if I could hem a pair of designer jeans for her.  I knew I wouldn't be able to replicate the stitching on the bottom of the jeans so I was in a bit of a bind.....until....I found this tutorial!  You actually use the original hem and it looks amazing.  This is seriously so easy, I don't know why I didn't think to try hemming jeans before.  Now my husband can stop rolling up his jeans that are too long.  (I know, I know!)

My second "first" this week is that I am learning how to work with hexigons.  For my next bee block for A Notion or Two bee, Jenny of Mommymae.com is giving us creative freedom to create our block for her anyway we'd like, as long as it is made with hexi's.  I was a little intimidated at first because I thought you HAD to paper piece and hand stitch hexi's.  Boy was I wrong!  I found this amazingly simple video, where you neither have to paper piece nor hand stitch these little puppies.  Thank you Lady Harvatine!!! 

Jenny sent us fabric from Darlene Zimmerman's line, Betty Dear.  Our blocks are to be 14.5" unfinished.  I printed out a few templetes for the hexis and taped them all together. I then cut it down to 14.5" so that I have a template to use when designing my block.  It has really been helpful even though it is deceiving because after I lay them all out, I will really need almost double the amount of hexi's because they shrink so much with the seam allowance and there will be no white space like there is in this template.

The last "first" is that I won my first blog giveaway!  And boy was it an awesome one to win!  Sarah of FairyFace Designs gave away the biggest bag of scraps, an adorable pin cushion, & a bar of Irish chocolate.  I don't even know if I'd call some of the fabric scraps, more like, Fat Quarters!!!  Thank you so much, Sarah.  What a generous giveaway!!!

The chocolate has been consumed, the scraps have already been separated for Bottled Rainbows and the pin cushion is in use.  Thanks again, Sarah!

~Val





Child's Footprint Step Stool!!!

I knew exactly what I wanted for Mother's Day this year when I saw this post.  This is the easiest step stool to make and will be cherished forever.

First, I ran over to Michael's and bought an unfinished step stool for $14.99.  With my 40% off coupon, the total came to around $10 with tax.  They had 4 different styles to choose from, but I thought this would be the most sturdy. 

My husband recently remodeled our kid's bathroom and I thought it would be nice to stain the step stool to match the vanity.  It took two coats of stain.

Once the stain was dry, I used acrylic paint and painted the bottom of their little feet.  I tried to mix the colors to match the dots on the soap dispenser & hand towels.  I gently pressed their feet onto the step stool and to my amazement, the prints came out great.

I asked Ethan to write the boy's names in pencil above each foot because I love his handwriting.  I then painted over the names in orange.   After all the paint was dry, I put on a coat of polyurethane to give it a shiny finish and to protect my new prized possession.

$10...not too shabby!   Happy Mother's Day to me!!!  :)

Now, for your help.... I think I'd like another step stool for the other sink. 
My question to you:  Do I use their other foot or their handprint?  I'm kinda leaning towards their other foot.


I'm linking up @ Skip to my Lou.



A Special Note on this Mother's Day...

To my Mom:  Thanks for being the most patient, inspiring, intelligent, hardworking, caring, generous mother I could have ever asked for.  I am blessed to have you as a Mom
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To all the other Mom's reading this:  Enjoy this day with your kids.  I hope they pamper you and keep you smiling!


~Val

Bottled Rainbow Quilt Along *Grass Block*

Today was a pretty cool day.  I know I have mentioned this before, but I am teaching two friends how to quilt while we each make our own Bottled Rainbow quilt.  Once a week, we get together and share our scraps while making a new block.  We usually come with the block already sewn and then when we get together we share, cut, glue, and sew on the scraps to the front of the block.

Today, Katie showed up with her scraps all cut and laid out ready to glue on.  She was already working on her next block.  It made me really proud that she is doing so well and is really enjoying the process so much.  (Amy we missed you today, girl!)

Now for my favorite scraps.  I just love this teapot that got from Bethie.  However, I'm a little nervous about how I cut it on the left.  I think I was trying to avoid another teapot.  I may go back with white thread a little further in so the scrap doesn't unravel after I wash it.  I guess it just depends on how OCD I feel like being today. 

This scrap is in honor of my husband who is the best cook I've ever met.



Seriously, why will this butterfly photo not rotate?  It was horizontal when I took the picture, then when I uploaded it into blogger, it changed to vertical.  Ugh!!!  It won't let me click on it and "rotate clockwise" in blogger.  Any suggestions oh wise ones? 

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There is a little group of people over at Flickr that are working on a top secret mission for a very special person.  She is having a baby and we are like elves working away to prepare gifts for the big day.

One of the projects is a Onesie for each day the baby turns a new month old.  My month was 3.  Each person in the group has a different month, but we are all using the same font so that the pictures will look super cute when she lines them all up after the baby turns a year old.

I wish I would have thought of this idea 6 years ago when Ethan was born.  Oh well.

Have a super day!

~Val

I'm linking up with Quilt Story's Fabric Tuesday and WIP Wednesday.  There are so many cool things there to inspire you.  Go check it out!

Child-made thank you cards.

I love having three boys.  I really do.  However, if I had one complaint it would be that they refuse to sit down and do anything crafty with me.  It just kills me! 

They all have their birthdays around the same time of the year and with lots of thank you cards needing to go out, I wanted to make an original card rather than something bought from the store.

Now, the problem is, there is no possible way that I am going to get my 6 year old to sit down, create 15 cards and write, "Thank you for my present" on each one.  It just won't happen.  I needed to think of a way to make ONE original card, and mass produce it! 

The answer:  Take a large painting (that they did at school), photograph it, then print out as many cards as you need!  This takes no time at all and your kids will love sending out their original art to all their friends and family.

Here's how it all went down.  Caleb, age 4,  had drawn a very pretty rainbow at Pre-School.  I asked him if he would mind if we wrote on his painting and he was proud to offer it up.  I asked Ethan, age 6, to write a note on the top of the picture saying "thank you for my present."  They then each signed their names to the bottom of the painting.

I put the painting on a piece of white foam board so that it would blend in nicely with the background.  The carpet just wasn't doing it for me.

I cropped the picture a bit and then printed it on cardstock.  I made two different sized cards, postcard & 5x7 folded.  I was able to get four postcards per piece of paper. 

I ran into one problem with the larger 5x7 cards.  When I printed it out, the picture printed on the top of the page and didn't fold correctly into a card.  The easy solution:  I rotated the picture upside down and printed it out.  That way, it folded into a card perfectly.

Now all I need to do is get Ethan to sign his name to each card and we'll be all set!  (I'm not looking forward to that).  Wish me luck. :)

~Val





Bottled Rainbow Quilt Along *Yellow Block*

6 blocks down, 10 to go.

This yellow block brings me much needed sunshine on this otherwise cloudy day. 

I told Caleb (age 4) that this was him reading the newspaper.  He just giggled and thought that I was so silly.

I love this print of the cow jumping over the moon. 

Having the yellow block done makes it feel like this quilt is really starting to look like a rainbow.  Next week, more green!

I'm linking up with Lee's W.i.P wednesday.  I love this linky party because it keeps me motivated!  Thanks, Lee!

~Val

Bottled Rainbow Quilt Along *Pumpkin Block*

Block #5.  The Pumpkin Block.  I must say this every post, but I definitely think this is my favorite one yet.  The scrap that melts my heart the most has got to be...

...the Dick & Jane print of the big brother giving the little bro a piggy back ride.  It just really hits home for me.

Here they all are so far.  Jackie refused to get out of the picture, but I kinda like seeing his little toes up there.

Next up: the yellow block.  Yeah!

I'm linking up with Lee's W.i.P. Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.  Go check out all the fun projects everyone has going on this week.

I heart the 80's swap

                         I heart the 80s swap, a photo by natalie.leppard on Flickr.

I thought I was done with swaps for a bit, until I found this one...The "I heart the 80's swap!"  I tried so hard to resist, but just couldn't do it.  

Here are the details for those of you who'd love to join in and are in love with 3 things: 
sewing, swapping, & The 80's!!!

1.  First read over the rules and 'like totally' agree to them at the bottom of the page.
2.  Sign up!  There is a spreadsheet on this page that you will need to fill out giving detail about your 80's likes/dislikes to give your partner an idea of what to make you.  This is an "anything goes" swap so you can tell your partner if you'd like them to make you a bag, pouch, something for the kitchen, a mini quilt, etc.
3.  Join the I Heart the 80's swap group on Flickr so you can participate in the all the discussions (down below the pictures).  This gives your partner additional ideas for you.
4.  Make a mosaic filled with all your favorite memories from the 80's.  I use Big Huge Labs to make my mosaics.
5.  Wait for your swap mama to email you your partner info (around May 1st).  This is a secret swap, so your partner will not know you have them and vice verse. 
6.  Sign ups are open until this Friday...April 22nd!  Get over there and sign up, people.  The more people, the more fun we'll have.
7.  Mail your swap out by August 1st.  This gives you PLENTY of time to dream up something totally rad!!!




This swap has me dreaming of the 80's.  I've started a list of all my favorite things from that time in my life.  Here we go:

·        Lite bright 

·         Smurfs

·         Dr.Scholl’s clogs (I loved the sound they made when you lifted up your foot. )  (I also loved having a matching pair with my Mom)

·         Bangs  (how did you style yours?)

·         Debbie (not Deborah) Gibson

·         Swatch watches (I still have mine)

        ·         Cabbage Patch kids

·         Garbage Pail kids

·         Jelly shoes and bracelets

·         “ZRBTT” from the Cosby Show

·         Tight rolled jeans

·         Mixed cassette tapes

·         Macramed bracelets that I’d make for my friends

·         Punky Brewster 
·         Taping the same song over and over off the radio onto a cassette tape trying as hard as possible not to record the DJ’s voice.

·         The Goonies

·         Karate Kid

·         My pink and gray Huffy 10-speed.  (My best friend and I had matching bikes!)

·         Strawberry Shortcake doll that blew strawberry kisses when you squeezed her tummy.   (I always was amazed that she never ran out of those kisses.  What was there in there?)

·         Atari

·         We thought we were big time when we got one of the first VCR players and it had a mini- remote that was connected by a cord.

·         Wonder woman underoo’s

·         River. Phoenix. 

·         Stand By Me

·         The Breakfast Club

·         Friendship pins (aka safety pins w/ beads on them)

http://www.liketotally80s.com/

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This is not 80's related, just some fun news to share. 

I entered my Owl quilt in the Quilting Gallery weekly contest.  Each week there is a different theme for each contest.  Check out this calendar to see if you have a quilt that fits one of these contests!

This week's contest was Scrappy Quilts.  There were 36 beautiful quilts submitted.  I was so shocked to open my email today and see that my quilt had won. 

This week’s sponsor is Tricia Lynn Maloney, the Orphan Quilter. She’s donated two copies of her latest book, Orphan Block Quilts: Making a Home for Antique, Vintage, Collectible, and Leftover Quilt Blocks to the top two winners. 

I'm excited to see what inspiration awaits in this book!  Thanks everyone who voted for me and thank you, Tricia, for the new book.  I really appreciate it!


I hope everyone got their taxes done and sent off today! 

~Val