Baby

I wanted to use a baby doll in my Blogger's Quilt Festival post, but Teenage Daughter was never really into baby dolls. (Except for one creepy realistic one that wouldn't have given the effect I was going for. I love that doll and I will post about her and her story one of these days, but she's never going to be my first choice as a baby quilt prop.) None of my own baby dolls have survived, so we don't have any potential models at my house, but I did remember this one that was my mother's, so I went over to her place and begged her to dig Baby out. 

Isn't she precious?  

I even love her little cracked head. It shows that she has a history. Mom can't remember how or when it happened. Baby needs to be restrung (her right leg and arm were lying loose in the bottom of the box.) I'd swear that I remember mom having it done when I was a kid, but either that was a different doll or the elastic has failed again.

Does anyone know if this is something we can do ourselves?

This post is linked to Time Travel Thursday, Treasure Hunt Thursday, Vintage Thingie Thursday, Share Your Cup, We Call it Olde, and Ivy and Elephants.Thriftasaurus, Thrift Share,

{Yarn Along} Bellman and Black

I got inspired to pull out that hat I was knitting last Halloween. So far I've found the yarn, but not the actual project...

From the Book's Amazon page  --

Caught up in a moment of boyhood competition, William Bellman recklessly aims his slingshot at a rook resting on a branch, killing the bird instantly. It is a small but cruel act, and is soon forgotten. By the time he is grown, with a wife and children of his own, William seems to have put the whole incident behind him. It was as if he never killed the thing at all. But rooks don’t forget . . .

Years later, when a stranger mysteriously enters William’s life, his fortunes begin to turn—and the terrible and unforeseen consequences of his past indiscretion take root. In a desperate bid to save the only precious thing he has left, he enters into a rather strange bargain, with an even stranger partner. Together, they found a decidedly macabre business. 

And Bellman & Black is born.

Bellman and Black's emporium, with its hidden doors and whispering staff, fascinated me. I loved the descriptions of colors -- all of them shades of black and grey -- and textures.I kept waiting for something huge to happen, but it never did. The story unfolds slowly and gradually.

For more pretty knitting projects to drool over, check out On the Needles at Patchwork Times and Work in Progress Wednesdays at Tami's Amis. 


Disclosure -- the publisher provided me with an electronic review copy. 

Does it look any more like a possum?

I'm not entirely happy with the way this costume turned out, but sometimes we mommies just do what we can. The neck of the shirt (which came from a purchased pattern) and the neck of the headpiece (which I made up on the fly)  had a big gap between them which I sort of fixed by adding a longer neck to the headpiece.  

Does anyone think he looks like a possum? (Lie to me -- please!) 

Now I remember why it's been so many years since I sewed a Halloween costume. They're way easier if you use a pattern...not to mention that it gives you someone else to blame if it doesn't look right. I still can't find the Teletubby costume, or even a picture of it, but I did find this picture of a costume that I'd totally repressed from my memory.

That little ghost costume was supposed to be "easy" and "no-sew," at least according to the instructions in Martha Stewart Living. They're available on their website now, in case anyone wants to ignore my warnings.  I had an awful time getting it together. If there had been more room in the budget, I would've tossed the whole thing and started over with something else. 

Life is definitely easier this year, since two of my kids have opted to recycle store bought costumes from previous years, Teenage Girl has sewn her own, and all I've had to deal with was the possum. 

This post is linked to I Gotta Try That, Sew Much Ado, Finish it Up Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?, Get Crafting Friday, Pinworthy Projects, and Freedom Fridays, Wonderful at Home, and Inspired Friday.

Wicked!

I've been waiting and waiting for my chance to show off my Wicked project! 

Ever since Jo posted about her Sunbonnet Sue Dresden Plate Dish Towel and how she made it with her AccuQuilt Go!, I've been wanting to make one for myself.  I've also been wanting to make myself a Halloween quilt with Sunbonnet Witches, but the pattern I found in my old magazine collection wasn't quite what I wanted -- those witches have too many sharp angles.

As soon as I signed up for the Wicked blog hop, I started thinking about Jo's dish towel pattern and the pile of black fabric I'd kept together after making a different Halloween project... 

I followed Jo's instructions and cut the wedges for the dress with my Dresden Plate die and Sue's arm and hand with the Sunbonnet Sue die. Then I cut a hat out of paper and traced it, experimenting until I got what felt like a good witch hat shape.  I started out with a piece of heavy craft muslin that I was going to use to sew the towel myself, but I cheated at the end and bought a ready made one. 

Sue has even got a haunted house to go home to when she's done doing whatever cute little Sunbonnet Witches do in the late afternoon... I'm sure she wouldn't venture out at Midnight when the really scary things are out and about.

Now  I want to make a whole quilt's worth of these little cuties...
Don't forget to visit today's other Wicked bloggers! Grandmama's Stories, Gracie Oliver Arts, Quilts by Christa, Michelle's Romantic Tangle, Ravelly’s, Pink's Sweet Treats, How Art You?, Georgia-Girl Quilter, I Piece 2-Mary, Words &Stitches, The Distracted Domestic

Laura

Have you met Laura? She's one of my favorites of the baby quilts I've made so far this year. It's just nine patch blocks and blocks, with an easy pieced border to bring the size up a little bit. I've made this same quilt over and over since I started making the baby quilts, but I think this scrappy yellow and white version is the prettiest. Which might explain why I haven't been able to part with her quite yet.

Have you checked out the baby quilt category yet? It's full of cute eye candy. And if you want the free pattern for Laura, or any of the other Let's Make Baby Quilts patterns, check out the links in my sidebar. 

Weekly Stash Report

Ever go into the craft store intending to buy a single dish towel and come out with about five yards of fabric?  But at two dollars a yard for quilt shop quality...I wasn't going to argue with myself too much. I've got definite plans for most of it. Except those cute red chairs. I've got some vague ideas for those. 

That's the top row. The second row is sale fabric Mom found at Joann's later in the day. I've got definite plans for those, too.

Weekly Stash Report

Fabric Used this Week: 0 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 63 3/4 yards
Added this Week: 15 yards
Added Year to Date: 247 1/2 yards
Net Added for 2013: 183 3/4 yards


Yarn Used this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Used year to Date: 2950 yards
Yarn Added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Added Year to Date: 10600 yards
Net Added for 2013: 7650 yards

I'm linking up to Patchwork Times and Finding Fifth.

{Whatcha Reading?} curled up under a quilt with some good mysteries

Last summer, I was browsing on Amazon and stumbled across the first two Myrtle Crumb mysteries, Between and Clutch and a Hard Place and When Good Bras Go Bad. Ever since I finished those two, I've been waiting for the third story.  Claus of Death is a fun read. The mystery is intriguing, but what I bought the book for is Myrtle's unique voice and personality. She's just plain fun to read about, especially while she's working as Mrs. Claus to earn some holiday money and solve the mystery of Santa's murder.



I loved the latest Kiki Lowenstein mystery, Group, Photo, Grave. There's a lot going on in this one -- a corpse is discovered at Kiki's mother-in-law's wedding, Kiki is forced to deal with a particularly nasty client, and more complications have surfaced from Detweiler's past...and once again the author has left me dying to find out what happens next.


Luckily, this time I didn't have to wait long! Killer, Paper, Cut was scheduled for publication today. Which means that, thanks to the whole wonderful phenomena of time zones, I was downloading it on my Kindle at 9pm last night and reading until 1am.  I only got halfway through the book because I knew I'd have to be functional today and really shouldn't be reading until dawn. I've still got that shirt for that possum costume to finish, the one that I didn't cut out last night because I was curled up in bed reading...  

Jo and Nell's Bonnie Challenge

Have you seen Jo and Nell's Bonnie Challenge? Before I was even finished reading Jo's post, I wanted to pull out my Texas Braid and start sewing away on it. There's just one thing holding me back -- that project has been missing for months.

I do have my big bag of cheddar bow ties, and I've counted them twice. I've got 228 bow ties finished, which means I need 172 more. Six or seven a day, which is totally do-able and I'll have enough to piece assemble the top.

It's not the piecing that's going to be a challenge, it's pulling scraps that I haven't already used in this project to cut more pieces from. I've got a hundred or so different fabrics here and I've totally lost track of what's in the quilt already.

And then I've got to cut more pieces for the border, which wasn't part of the original plan. As soon as I caught a glimpse of the border that Bonnie had added to her quilt, I knew I wanted one too.

This post is linked to Design Wall Monday over at Patchwork Times.

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {week 43}

I'm afraid that I'm up to my ears in Halloween costumes this week, so I don't have a new baby quilt to show you this week, or even the pieces of one.  

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules:

Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned, but it's got to be about baby quilts. While we're still gathering steam, you're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button

By linking up, you're giving me permission to feature your quilt in a future Let's Make Baby Quilts! post -- with a link back and full credit, of course

Blogger's Quilt Festival

The Blogger's Quilt Festival starts tomorrow over at Amy's Creative Side.  I can't wait -- the quilts are always absolutely amazing!
 

About ten minutes after I saw Moda's line of Nancy Drew fabric, I was stealing a  felt tip pen from one of my kids and sketching out a design.  I had this vision of the book covers scattered across the top of a traditional patchwork quilt...

I could see it clearly in  my head and I had my fingers tightly crossed that the folks at the Moda Bake Shop could picture it too and would approve my proposal. Luckily, they did -- my vision looks a lot better in fabric than it did in that first drawing.

I bought more yardage as soon as the fabric was available in the local quilt shop and it's turned up in several of my projects. I used those gorgeous book spines for a  tote bag, which I carry almost every time I leave the house. Some extra nine patch blocks went into a baby quilt. I made a camera strap and a sleeve for Teenage Daughter's Kindle and I've still got the last of it carefully tucked away. It's not too precious to cut, but it's waiting for a perfect excuse to pull it out. 

You can find my original post about Nancy's Mysterious Quilt (including the link to the pattern) here, and all of my posts about the quilt and the books and everything else here.  

A Devilish Little Family

When I was little, my great grandmother lived in a house with built in china hutch. She had absolutely filled it with knick knacks. There were things she'd collected and things she'd made herself -- a crown on a velvet cushion that had once been a detergent bottle, baskets made from sparkly beads and safety pins, swans made from beads stuck to bars of soap with long pins... I was always fascinated by it all.

I can't  remember if she  gave me this little family of devils, or if I wound up with them after she died. What I do know for sure is that they came from that china hutch and that  as a little girl I thought they were the neatest thing ever and really, really wanted to play with them! 

I love the mama's pipe cleaner tail and the way one of her little guys is hiding his pitch fork behind his back. There are holes for all three of the little ones to be holding something, and I assume they were pitch forks, but those were long gone before I ever met this cute little family. If someone has a set of these and knows how long they are and what they originally held, please let me know!

This post is linked to Time Travel Thursday, Treasure Hunt Thursday, Vintage Thingie Thursday, Share Your Cup, We Call it Olde, and Ivy and Elephants.Thriftasaurus, Thrift Share,

{Yarn Along} Thanksgiving by Ellen Cooney

Between Halloween sewing and the skull cake and trying to make a possum costume, my pile of socks hasn't changed at all this week.  As soon as I can carve out a block of time to get that second heel turned on my vacation socks, I'll be able to pick them up and sew a few rounds of ribbing whenever I've got some time to fill. But heels take concentration and I've got projects with deadlines to finish first. 

I did manage to thoroughly lose myself in Thanksgiving by Ellen Cooney. The novel, which starts in 1662 and follows the Morely family through the years to 2012, is a perfect read for this time of year.  I've got to admit that I loved the earlier segments more -- they were so rich with detail. I could see and smell that kitchen full of pumpkins and dirty bits of vine. There were so many details of historical life that I'd never read about before (and I've read a lot of historical fiction over the years.)  By the time the author got to the present day, I was losing patience with the Morely women, maybe because their problems were much less exotic and interesting. I loved the way that family stories changed slightly from chapter to chapter as the truth was forgotten, how family members lost track of which heirlooms had belonged to which of their ancestors.


For more pretty knitting projects to drool over, check out On the Needles at Patchwork Times and Work in Progress Wednesdays at Tami's Amis. 



Disclosure -- the publisher provided me with an electronic review copy. 

Potion Bottle Mug Rug Tutorial

Look what I whipped up with my Sizzix bottle die, just in time for Halloween!

Double, double toil and trouble; 

Fire burn, and caldron bubble. 

Eye of newt, and toe of frog, 

Wool of bat, and tongue of dog, 

Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting, 

Lizard's leg, and owlet's wing,— 

For a charm of powerful trouble, 

Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

The rest of the ingredients are nastier than I remembered from elementary school, but if you're in the mood to read the whole thing, you can find it here.

To make your own mug rug, you'll need scraps off three different colors. I used purple for the bottle, brown for the label, and grey for the background and backing.

From purple, cut one 2" x 4" piece and one 4 x 4" piece. From brown, cut one 2 1/2 x 4" piece. The sizes are approximate, so if your scraps of fabric won't give you pieces quite that large, you can cheat a bit. Just make sure that you're making a large enough piece to cover the blades of the die.

Assemble and press to make a rectangle as shown.

The plastic back of the die is clear, allowing you to see exactly what your cut piece will look like. I layered one plastic cutting mat on the bottom, then a piece of the background fabric, then  the rectangle for my pieced bottle with the right side facing up. That way I could see exactly how the label would fall on the finished bottle. Then I put on the second plastic cutting mat, flipped it, and ran it through my Sizzix Big Shot. 

Cut the background bottle in half lengthwise. The bottom edge is 3" wide, so you can line up the corner with the 1 1/2" line on your ruler to get both sides even. This is how I made my own mug rug and it gave me very little excess fabric along the sides. If I was doing it again, I might cut two bottles and trim them 2" or so from the corner to give me more fabric. 

Sew a half bottle to each side of the main bottle. The bottom edge of one bottle lines up with the top of the other. Just match up the corners and go slowly, lining up the edges as you go. The gentle curve is easy to piece. Press, then border the center section with 1 1/2" wide strips of the background fabric.  

I wrote the letters freehand and embroidered them once the top for my mug rug was assembled, so that I could see exactly how the finished label would look. Don't want to embroider? You can always use a Pigma pen. 

I

Layer your top, batting, and backing fabric and quilt.  I used black thread and a circle fill to suggest the contents of the bottle and threads at the top (my witch must like screw-top potion bottles) and neutral thread to stipple the background.

Not in the mood to make a potion bottle?  This technique would make a neat wine bottle or bottle of perfume.

Be sure to check out  my other free Halloween Tutorials -- Halloween Parlor Quilt , Haunted House Potholder, Potion Bottle Mug Rug, Pumpkin Carving Wall Quilt

Ever try to make a birthday cake shaped like a skull?

Even with a cake pan that's shaped like a skull, it isn't as easy as it sounds. And now I remember why it's been so many years since I last tried to bake a birthday cake instead of just grabbing one of those big  chocolate ones at Costco. Or a strawberry cheesecake, depending on whose birthday it is. 

When I do this again, which I will since I've got both the pan and a little boy with a late October birthday, I'll use wooden skewers to try to keep the front from sliding off of the back. I'll also dust it with powdered sugar instead of trying to frost it.

We've all got different skills in our secret Mommy arsenals. Baking attractive birthday cakes is obviously not one of mine. And neither is making up animal costumes on the fly, at least not based on the comments from this morning's post. Two of you had it right.

But maybe this will work out....last year my youngest got annoyed every time someone recognized what he was and called him Mario. This year, he won't have that problem!

When they want a Halloween costume that doesn't exist...

Right after I wrote that post about how my kids are happy with store bought costumes, my youngest made a request for a specific animal.  I had a strong suspicion we weren't going to be able to buy that one at Walmart, and an even stronger suspicion that we wouldn't be able to find a pattern. What surprised me is that I can't find much of anything online. I even tried Googling "stuffed" versions of that animal -- which got me some scary recipes.

So I'm on my own, and I've found myself arguing with other family members about what this animal is even supposed to look like.

Would you please tell me what this creature looks like to you?

So far, I've got a head and legs. The torso should be easy enough, and I've got ideas for the tail. And a feeling that I'm going to wind up making a new head because that profile just isn't what it should be. 

I'm liking up to Design Wall Monday over at Patchwork Times. It may not be quilty, but this is the only project I've got going today, and if it doesn't qualify as "design" I don't know what would!

That fabric purchase doesn't count!

I did go to the fabric store this week and buy fabric, but fleece for Halloween costumes does not count towards my stash report. My husband told me to go out and buy it. If anyone has to claim it, it's him. Or the little boy who decided that he needed me to make him a costume for Halloween.

While I was waiting in line to pay for my fabric, a knitter was yelling at the store manager. I don't know what they'd done to set her off, but she was convinced that they should just give her her yarn for free to make up for it. The woman standing beside me said softly that they should give it to her just to shut her up.  Based on my own recent experience in that store, with that same manager, I was quietly rooting for the knitter. She was behaving badly, but the service in that store is really awful. Maybe, just maybe, she got them to see that.

I did use some fabric this week, finishing Malia.

Weekly Stash Report

Fabric Used this Week: 1 3/4 yards
Fabric Used year to Date: 63 3/4 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 232 1/2 yards
Net Added for 2013: 175 3/4 yards


Yarn Used this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Used year to Date: 2950 yards
Yarn Added this Week: 0 yards
Yarn Added Year to Date: 10600 yards
Net Added for 2013: 7650 yards

I'm linking up to Patchwork Times.

{Whatcha Reading?} Doctor Sleep

When I saw that Stephen King had a new book coming out, and that it was a sequel to The Shining, I was dying to get my hands on it. Back in March, I placed my order with Amazon. The closer the book's release date got, the more I started to wonder how much I really wanted to read it.

The Shining is one of my absolute favorite of his books (tied with Pet Semetery and Bag of Bones, depending on which one I've reread most recently.) It wasn't the little boy that made me love that book so much, it was the Overlook and its ghosts. Reading about Danny as an adult? I wasn't sure how enthusiastic about that I was.

I reread  The Shining for what was probably the fifth or sixth time while I was waiting for Doctor Sleep to show up in my mailbox. Then I curled up with the new book. And instead of being bored, I couldn't stop reading.

There are echoes, wonderful echoes, of the Overlook hotel. And there are new things to be creeped out by. The book had me scared, but not of whatever noises I might hear late at night after I'd closed the covers and tried to go to bed. I was worried about what the author might do to his characters -- he's not as nice in his more recent books. 

Let's Make Baby Quilts! {week 42}

I played with a new quilting design this week. You can find the details in this post. I was thinking about using the design on a bigger quilt, but after trying it out I'm glad I did it on something small.  Another reason to love making baby quilts!

Let's Make Baby Quilts Linky Party Rules:

Link directly to your post or specific Flickr photo. Your post can be about a baby quilt that's finished, or in progress, or you can be writing about what you have planned, but it's got to be about baby quilts. While we're still gathering steam, you're welcome to link to baby quilt posts that aren't brand new, but please don't submit the same post or picture more than once. I'd love it if you linked back to my site, either with a text link or the Let's Make Baby Quilts! button

By linking up, you're giving me permission to feature your quilt in a future Let's Make Baby Quilts! post -- with a link back and full credit, of course. 

Meet Malia

I whipped up this little quilt because I wanted to try out one of the free-motion patterns from Beginner's Guide to Free-Motion Quilting by Natalia Bonner.

I loved the way the quilting design looked in the book and was considering it for Alex's big girl version of Annabelle, but now that I've given it a try I think it gives the quilt a fluffier texture than I want. It might have laid flatter with cotton batting instead of polyester, and I want to try it on a little wall quilt because I still do like the look.

It was nearly midnight when I got the binding on, so the pictures don't show the texture as well as I'd like. Now I'd better hurry and make more tops because there are a lot more designs in this book I want to try. 

This post is linked to I Gotta Try That, Sew Much Ado, Finish it Up Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?, Get Crafting Friday, Pinworthy Projects, and Freedom Fridays, Wonderful at Home, and Inspired Friday.