A good year...

Make that great! 

Just a few of my favorites my projects from 2011.

I have so enjoyed the sewing community this year!  

I am looking forward to a very creative and inspiring 2012.

Much love to you all!

Happy New Year!

Be right back!

Hi Ya'all!

I'm giving myself permission to 

kick back and enjoy the holidays with my crew. 

Lots of movies, eating and playing to do!

See you in January :-)

p.s. I'll still be updating my Etsy store if you need anything.

Label it!

I died when I saw these labels!

I mean, seriously, there aren't better words.

*unfortunately I have no source for these labels.  

The link takes you to a dead end Etsy page, sorry*

Quilts are my favorite way to say I love you!

So I just had to have some for all of the quilts I make for my loved ones.

I have top secret plans to make a new quilt for my husband using Curious Nature 

(since my kids have taken over the last quilt I made for him).

I really wanted to use the circle heart thingy from my regular labels.

So I had some printed up from my usual Twill Tape Guy.

I also adore these labels!

It's kinda rude but oh so true!

I think for now I'll just enjoy the idea of them.

*click on the picture to go to the source*

Please don't tell...

I'm headed to an adult's only Hale Family Party tonight.

Every year we get together for a party sans kids.

We eat the most gourmet, five finger licking Italian dinner

and then we duke it out over white elephant gifts.

And I'm pretty pumped about mine!

Poo-Pourri

Spray the Loo before No. 2 and no one will ever have a clue!

I wrapped it up most gorgeously along with some flushable wipes!

And I always like to bring something that people will wrestle each other for.

Once I brought a box of Cookie Crisp and it was all out war.

So, my second white elephant is simply a box of See's chocolates.

No one will ever suspect!

This box was wrapped in the ugliest wrapping paper I could find.  

Honestly, it looks like my 3 year old wrapped it.

It's gonna be a blood bath.

(Insert evil laugh here!)

If you want some spray for your own No. 2's 

click here and go to their store locator.

Happy Friday!

P.S. I'm keeping my Rise and Shine rug!
Thanks for twisting my arm ;-)

To keep or not to keep?

Lemme' lay this on you....

I ordered this rug from Company C to put under my dining room table.

I worked really hard and saved my pennies for a looong time!

Once I got it home and put it under my table it looked terrible with my hardwood floors.

This rug requires a gorgeous uber dark hardwood floor.

And guess what.... no returns on special orders.

Plan B?

It actually looks totally perf in my downstairs family room!

Forgive me for not closing the closet doors or even waiting for good lighting.  

I was in a hurry :-)

Anywhoodle, here's my dilemma...

75% of the time this room is occupied by loads of kids playing xbox on the big screen.  

Only on the weekends do we hang out downstairs as a family.

Do I dare keep this expensive rug downstairs 

or should I come up with a new plan B?

And before you speak, refinishing our hardwood is on the list but it's pretty low.

Please advise....

In the nick of time...

Stacey is at the hospital this very moment having her baby.

It's a good thing I finished her crib bedding 
over the weekend!

.

Stacey had a very specific plan for all of the fabrics
to the exact quilt pattern she wanted to use.

She has this very eclectic mis matched style that she rocks so perfectly.

I hope that it all turned out exactly the way that she imagined it!

Making your dreams come true!

Hop on over to DesignHer Brands for the 

Ultimate Giveaway!

Melissa of DesignHer Brands is looking to change the life of one lucky winner

Were talking $4,500 worth of prizes! 

Whether you are starting a new business 

or want to give your current business a total makeover 

you do not want to miss this opportunity!

Go here to enter!

Phew!

I sure did enjoy Thanksgiving week

but I am so glad it's over.

Am I the only one who stresses out over the Holidays???

My Turkey didn't finish cooking on time so we sliced it up and threw it on the grill.

It was soooo yummy but also a wrench in the Stuff Your Face schedule.

The appetizers.....ohh the appetizers....

They were my favorite food item of the day!

I highly recommend the Caprese Skewers and Cranberry Salsa.

In fact, I'm def putting those on the Christmas menu.

I spent most of the week working on Stacey's crib bedding

Almost done and cutting it close!

More pictures soon.

Vanessa's bumper pad tutorial is awesome!

I've made a whole LOTTA bumpers in my time

but I am really enjoying this particular pattern!

And when I wasn't sewing I was putting out my Christmas 

and hanging out with my crew.

Why is it so hard to get a great picture of your Christmas Tree?

Different angle perhaps? No?

This year we have a new tree, skinnier and taller!

And it's flocked, yay!

I have always wanted a flocked tree.

I'm pretty sure my hubs doesn't love it, but he's not sayin'

Once we got all of the ornaments on the kids decided
that it was overwhelmingly RED!

They, then, informed me that we needed Turquoise.

So we headed out among the Black Friday mess and found some turquoise.

Other than that, we spent the weekend in watching all 

of the episodes of Once Upon a Time as a family.

I hope you all had a great weekend too!

CYBER MONDAY!!

Hi everyone!

I hope you had a spectacular Thanksgiving week.

I just wanted to let you know that I'm having another special just for Cyber Monday.

all patterns are BUY 2 GET 1 FREE!

This offer expires Monday at midnight (mountain standard time)

go here to check it out!

Black Friday comes early!

Hi everyone!

In honor of Black Friday 

all of my patterns are 30% off until Sunday!

Go here to check it out

Racing the Clock

It's been a bit crazy around here!

I am in a full panic trying to get crib bedding done for a friend who is due very soon.

It doesn't help that it's Thanksgiving week and I am hosting 12 adults and 15 children for dinner.

Lot's to be done!

For Stacey's crib quilt I used Oh Fransson's pattern Small Plates.

It's from her book.

It remains my favorite quilting book to date.

Every single project in it speaks to me!

If you don't have a copy I highly recommend you treat yo'self (Parks and Rec anyone?)

Aside from cooking a big 'ol turkey I am dying to make these appetizers!

click on the pics to go the source

Caprese Skewers

Cranberry Salsa Dip

What about you guys?  

Are you sewing or cooking this week?
Or both?

I really did try!

Have you ever tried to talk your daughter into loving something?

Like....say...American Girl Dolls?

Let's go back a little bit.

Two birthdays ago I bought my daughter an American Girl Doll.

She had spent so much time combing through the catalog.

So I bought her Lanie, 2 outfits and Ginger the pet kitty.

She LOOOOVED Ginger but didn't pay much attention to the doll.

Hmmm.... me thinks she needs some props!

So we built her the cutest little farmhouse bed for her doll.

plans can be found here

I also let her dig through my scrap bin to choose every single piece for her quilt and pillows.

I don't love it, but she picked it mind you.

I must resist the urge to make a new one.

For a while she played with her doll.

Then she tossed her aside and used the bed night and day to play with her build-a-bear and other random stuffed animals.

So......

We remodeled this old barbie house 

that was really quite thrashed.

We took off the 4 corner posts and raised each floor doubling the height.

And we took out the center walls to keep it spacious and open.

I put my work gloves on and installed hardwood floors

Oh and I bought her this cute little bath tub too.

I hated the AG rug that came with it so I made one that was bigger and more sturdy.

I also installed a closet rod on the main floor.

And do you know what?

she still didn't play with it!

You know what this doll house needs?  

Lights!  It's too dark.

Maybe if it were well lit it would be more inviting!

So I installed some lighting.

No dice!

Then.......

something happens!  We get the new catalog featuring Kanani.

And my stubborn little girl begs me for her 

everyday for 6 whole months!

Finally, it will all be worth it!

So, I give in and buy Kanani and build these cute chairs for Sasha's birthday.

You can find the plans for these chairs here.

And guess what!

She doesn't play with any of it!

She does, however, still play with the bed and her stuffed animals all of the time.

Just not in the doll house or even around it.

All is not lost though.

All of my nieces and neighbor girls just love to play with it when they come over.

So I'll keep it for them

One of these days, I am going to put tufted walls on the backside to finish it.

I'll post pictures of the whole doll house then.

I wonder....if she had a sister would they play dolls together?

Best decision ever!

Well, maybe not EVER.

I decided to drop my Christmas blanket off to my favorite long arm quilter on Friday.

Two short hours later she called me back and said it was done!

Already???

I told her that I wanted minimal stitching so that it would keep it's loftiness.

Because of that she squeezed me in.

Fabulous!

Icing on the cake....she only charged me $20!

I mean, this is a twin sized blanket.

So so so worth it!

I love these sheets from Garnet Hill!

You can buy them individually rather than in a set.

Which is nice if you want 2 different fabrics.

I decided that it needed a really thick binding so I cut 4" strips.

Then I sewed with a 1/2" inseam.

My kids are dying...DYING to get their hands on it!

Check, check, check!

My to-do list is improving!

Today I finished this crib quilt for my friend Danielle.

She is finally welcoming a baby girl into her family after being surrounded by boys.

I remember that feeling!

Danielle is crazy about Chevron!

And she has an inspiration board on Pinterest dedicated to all things little girl.

I pulled these pictures for inspiration...

I changed my mind at the last minute and decided to straight line stitch.

I think it was definitely the right decision!

I have loooooved working with these fabrics!
It's been so cheery in my design room as I've worked on this quilt.
I'm kind of sad to see it go but I know Danielle is anxiously waiting!
It's on it's way girl! :-)

*all fabrics from Sandi Henderson's Secret Garden Collection*

Many works!

Right now I have soooo many WIP's!

My brain is a little bit dizzy over it.

Time to hunker down and focus!

My Christmas Blanket seem's to be continually sliding down to the bottom of the list.

I might end up taking it to my favorite Long Arm gal to save some time and brain cells.

Today I finished a doll quilt for a friend's daughter (Christmas present).

I used some extra HST's from a crib quilt that also needs to be finished up.

Once that's done, I have an entire crib set that's waiting to be made 

for a friend that's due this month!

EEK!

I'm so excited to use Vanessa's tutorial found here.

I've made a gazillion bumper pads but I really love Vanessa's (shown below)!

And I love trying new things.

Those are just a few of the many WIP's.

If I don't come up for air in the next few days send reinforcements!

p.s. Do you need a gorgeous gift for your daughter 

that she's sure to love???

You should totally make one of these!

We made this bed for our daughter over a year ago and it remains her favorite!

It fits 2 American Girl Dolls.

If you want more of a single bed simply use one less slat in the headboard and footboard.

Find the plans here.

If I remember correctly it only cost us $16 to make!

Change of Plans

So instead of working on my easy Christmas Blanket over the weekend 

I spent time writing a pattern for this quilt.

I finished this quilt ages ago!

But I sort of dread the actual writing of patterns.

Easy reading makes for hard writing

I tend to put it off for as long as I can.

This is a very simple quilt!

I put it together because I get a lot of requests from beginners

And they need something that provides that instant gratification.

I also love this pattern because I adore all of the 

large scale collections that keep coming out.

Like this one in particular!

I just couldn't bear to chop up Loulouthi into bits and pieces.

This pattern is now available in my store.
I am offering an introductory price of $5 until Friday.
Go here to check it out!

Since I'm just sitting here....

I am waiting for my 2nd favorite man to appear at my door...

The UPS man!

I am waiting for some fabric that is essential to a WIP.

It looks like I'll be twiddling my thumbs until Monday.

Darn you Fabric.com!

I love your prices but your shipping takes forrrrreeeeevvvveeerrr!

So I guess I'll work on my Easy Christmas Blankets while I wait.

I bought the cutest flannel sheets from Garnet Hill!

One for the front and one for the back.

I'm drawing a very simple grid for quilting with my favorite washable Crayola's.

And I'm using a 6oz. loft batting so these blankets will be oh so fluffy!

Last year I made the quilt pictured below for  this newly started tradition.

But for some reason I just hated it!

So this year the I am offering up the fluffiest, coziest, warmest blanket for the nightly prize!

Let the good behavior begin!


p.s. Target also had some super cute Flannel Sheets too.