Charm Pack Easter Eggs

(Sorry you have to see pictures of my half dead grass. Our yard grows weeds and rocks... that's about all)

I really do try hard to keep my fabric stash under control, but it is very hard when I work at such a cute quilt shop. If I love a fabric but know I am not going to make a quilt out of it, I usually satisfy myself with a charm pack. It's so hard to see cute fabric come and go without getting just a little bit of it. So, I have quite a few of these little charms packs lying around and I'm always looking for ways to use them up.

Here's a few of my most recently aquired...


Could anything be more perfect for Easter eggs than the zig zags, tulips and polka dots in this new line called Hullabaloo?

I don't have a template for you to print out, but basically I just used my Tomato Pin Cushion pattern and adjusted it very slightly to make it a bit more of an egg shape. As you can see below, I lowered the widest part of the wedge just a little...


(Here's a hint, the cardboard square that comes on the back of the charm pack was perfect to use as my template piece!)

You'll cut out 4 wedges for each egg.



Sew 2 wedges together, set that pair aside and sew the other 2 together. Then sew the first pair to the second pair, leaving a small hole to turn and stuff.





Stuff your egg and sew up your little hole by hand.



I found this cute little egg holder at JoAnns the other day. I'm excited to display the kids' Easter egg creations on it in a few weeks, but until then my fabric eggs will do alright.



It's pretty cool all the diffrent things you can make out of a fabric wedge. So far I've used it to make eggs, tomatoes, pumpkins, pears, owls, juggling balls and bowling pin people (huh, I haven't showed you that one yet have I?) and I have many more ideas, just not enough time!

Dreaming Of Summer

It snowed here this morning. I haven't liked the snow since I was about 15 (the year I moved from sunny southern California to snowy northern Utah). I was dreaming of hot July days at the pool, firworks at the park, and barbques in the backyard as I whipped up these little bucket hats for the girls. Utah can get quite hot in the summer (almost too hot! Makes me miss that ocean breeze) so hopefully these hats will protect my fair skinned children, if the sun ever shows it's face here again!







I used the pattern in my new Little Things To Sew book by Oliver + S to make my hats, but I did a quick search and found a free tutorial for bucket hats HERE

Vintage, Baby!

Here are a few pictures of my newest quilt! It's for Pine Needles and will be headed there for display tomorrow.



I love the way it turned out. The raw edges are so cute and cozy! But let me tell you something, this was not the super easy, quick quilt I anticipated. When I opened the pattern and read "using your ruler and a washable marking pen, draw a 3 inch grid over your entire background fabric" I really wanted to throw the whole thing in a drawer and forget it! After drawing your grid you then line up all those little squares and use a fabric glue stick to glue them down. Then you start to quilt. I've decided that though I like the way it looks, I am not a fan of straight line quilting. I persevered though, and in the end... well, it's cute. Let's just leave it at that.



The upside to this quilt is that at Pine Needles you can buy a kit with all those little squares already cut out for you (I should know, I've been working on cuting out those squares to go in the kits for weeks!) They are cut out with a die cut machine so you get that sweet scaloped edge on all your squares!

I once had a quilter ask me if I would rather use a batting in my quilts that didn't shrink up when washed and give my quilts that wrinkled look. Oh, for shame! I absolutely adore that wrinkled, vintage, cozy look on all my quilts. As soon as I finish a quilt it goes straight in the wash. This quilt goes perfect with that look. In fact, the name of the pattern is Vintage Baby. Though I complain about the work involved with this quilt, the pattern was very well written and easy to follow. And as with everything else vintage or baby in my house, I love it!

Phew! I am feeling so overwhelmed right now. I think I've bitten off a bit more than I can chew. I have LOTS of projects that I am working on, some for the store, some just for me, and some for the 2 new babies that will be born into my extended family next month. Anyway, it seems like when I have too much happening, I lose motivation. It starts to feel like work instead of play.

When I have some more time, I'll have to update you all on my many projects. But for now, I knew you would love this sweet little quilter in these prints as much as me. I love being able to work in a cute quilt shop and breath the fabric air so often.

These prints are avalible for purchase HERE. I think I need the set for my sewing room!

How fun! Now, when my hubby is pouring over his March Madness bracket, I can turn to my Modern Madness bracket for entertainment. If you love looking at new fabric as much as me, this is for you. Fat Quarterly has paired up fabric lines from this past year, created a bracket (just like the ones for college basketball), and is letting US vote for which ones we think are going to win. They are already voting on round 3 :( but it was fantastic to look over all the other winners and vote for my own.



Click on the link above and it will take you to the home page of Fat Quarterly!

Mini felt animals

Now that I've made them, what am I going to do with them?

I have no idea.
Don't they make you smile though?!


My favorite


The biggest one is only at 3 inches! Cute!

This etsy site has the pattern to download if your interested.

My little baby "P" turned 7 today.

Free download of this sweet reminder HERE

The Jump Rope Dress

This classic little dress is my version of The Jump Rope Dress, a pattern by one of my favorites, Oliver + S.




So sweet, so classic, and just a touch vintage. I love the style of their patterns as well as their easy to follow instructions.




I also just purchase their new book, Little Things To Sew. Check out this darling trailer for their book...


I want to make EVERYTHING in this book! There is more in the book that they don't show, like a puppet theater and a "play town", all made out of the prettiest fabric. Oh, and of course, a set of their adorable little paper dolls, complete with clothes from the book... "a little something extra to keep young ones occupied as you stitch up new items for their wardrobes!" - Little Things To Sew, Oliver + S