Alena's Quilt

This was the last handmade gift that I included in the gift for Elise. The quilt! I knew she wanted brown and pink and she mentioned cherry blossoms, so I decided on something simple for this quilt. I'd never done a nine patch so I decided to try it out with some sashing and embroidery. This was my result. I think I'll try again sometime with more colors and some different techniques. Here are the pictures, Haley quilted it for me free motion! Isn't she the bomb?! Yes, yes she it :)
Enjoy!
~Rachel

 

I embroidered the baby's name!

 

Haley quilted flowers :)

 

 

 

 

Finally- Pinwheel Finished!

This quilt has been and ongoing project for a while! I posted about it way back at the beginning of this year here. It is finally finished because I got around to quilting and binding it. I tend to put that off as long as possible. The actual quilting, that is. I'd much rather piece a new top and let someone else quilt it. That's kind of the point though, isn't it? I like to hand quilt, it's just that I feel like I'm not getting anything accomplished when I sit for long periods of time and when there are so many things that I want to make! I like to start and finish a project in a short period of time, so when things start to drag out, I hate them!
So, since you can read that other post about the quilt, here it is, freshly quilted and bound! I've been stockpiling quilt projects, and now they are all getting finished at the same time! If you'd like to see the Etsy listing, it's HERE!

~Rachel

 

 

 

Some Embroidery

These first two are projects that have been done for quite a while, some of you may have seen them already (before the days of this blog), but I think they are so cheerful that they are worth sharing again. I cannot remember where I got the patterns, but just so you know, I'm definitely not taking credit for that. One, I can NOT draw and two, I love to find things I like and then recreate them in my own way. So these are just a couple of examples. I have done more than these, and one of my favorite pattern people is here: Badbird  Okay, the first one is still sitting where ever I stuffed it to get out of the way for a new project. The second one is currently residing in the Van Buren County High School in the Spanish teacher's classroom. The Spanish teacher named Jan Grissom, who happens to be my mother. Yes, that one! She is a cool lady and makes real sugar skulls with her classes around Dia de los Muertes every year. I thought it was an appropriate and colorful addition to her collection in my own little sew-y way! She liked it (or pretended to) when I gave it to her, so I was happy!
The third one I just finished up. I've had the pattern sitting around for a while and Ive wanted to make it for my sewing room. I just thought it was funny and along the same lines as a "Mom" tattoo, and it made me smile a little.
Lastly, when I was at church, my sweet friend, Elise, slipped me a little bday gift! It was so thoughtful and perfect! I'll include a picture of it too! She made a pincushion stuffed with steel wool (to keep needles sharp), and on an elastic band. It slides onto the arm of my sewing machine and is perfect, I've been using it and LOVE IT! It also has my initial hand-embroidered on the top. Thanks Elise!!!

I love colorful things!

 

His & Her's

My friend, Ilicia, is getting married this summer. Yay, marriage is the bomb! I wanted to make her something small and personalized so that she would remember me foreva! ;) They are moving to Colorado so her hubby-to-be can play baseball while he is in school. I didn't want to get them something huge, so I'm going to wrap these babies up with a sweet gift card. Let me tell you, as a newlywed trying to move, gift cards are the way to go! Here they are, his and her's pillowcases (that still need to be washed and ironed). I just drew on them with a pencil and embroidered with gray thread. I'm thinking of adding some yellow accents so they'll match the new bedding. Any ideas?!

Gnomes!

When Haley ad I were younger, our Grandmother would always have little gnomes around in her house. Not the big stupid ones, but small, polite ones. She had books that describe gnome life and how they married and lived... they were so cute! She still has those things but I'd forgotten about them until I saw a cross-stitch pattern on Craftsy (for free, score)! I stitched it up for her around Christmas time and she seemed to genuinely like the little guy. So here is a picture for you all as I wait at the airport in Chattanooga, Tennessee to go back to Yuma! I've just had a lovely week with my new nephew and parents and siblings. The whether was even nice and I had so much fun!

Quilting As Art (pt. 2)

Since Haley already covered this, I'll just throw in my 2 cents too! I have a little half bath downstairs and it is mostly purple stuff in there. I can never find artwork that I just love so I used a tester block that I made. I need a different frame so the whole block is actually visible but this is what I came up with! I embroidered on the bottom "Powder Room," in case you can't tell it's a bathroom from the large toilet hanging out in there!

Pinwheel Quilt

This quilt has been a work in progress since, um... November! I had a bunch of random pink fabrics left over from a project I was working on before (I'll share it soon). I've never stopped loving pink since I was a little girl and wanted to make something that screamed, "i'm a girly lady!" Let me know if I succeeded! Every other block is plain white with a hand embroidered pinwheel on it. The pieced blocks were so busy that I wanted to offset them with something simple. There are also small green embroidered pinwheels where the lattice work meets. The back is just a pink and white print (it looks funky in the picture, better in person). Now it's all pinned and ready to quilt!
~Rachel