Back To School Dresses

It was impossible to have both girls look in my direction, smile, and not have their dresses flipped over their heads. Alas, it was the first day of school and you HAVE to take pictures..right, right? 

Do you like their dresses? They love them and I adore them.. The fabric is Blend designed by the truly amazing Cori Dantini, the line is "Beauty is You". I am crazy about this fabric.. amazing quality, style, and color tones. Couldn't you just see those as an Anthro dress?

The pattern is by the fabulous Jennifer Paganelli - it is the Molly Peasant pattern. Sis Boom patterns are insanely detailed and include tons of sizes. I can't say enough about this pattern. I'm in the process of making two more for a dear friend's angel pie. Love it, love it. You need this pattern.

A few more gratuitous pics of my pretty girls..

Kiddo had a fabulous first day! Yay! Hope your kidlets are enjoying their return to school..

Getting Ready For School

We had so much fun today, enjoying the last bit of summer before school starts tomorrow. From playing on the slip n slide to bubbles on the deck. This summer has flown by - it's amazing how much faster time flies with each passing year. *Sigh*

Hubby was all set to take Kiddo out on their annual backpack shopping trip, but she declined. She's still totally in love with her Dora one from last year. So I spent that little bit of extra money on someone that could use a treat right now too.. Kiddo's teacher!

I saw this incredible gift basket idea on Pinterest from Serenity Now. My items are a little different, but very much the same idea. My basket is full of Clorox wipes, hand wipes, tissues, Airborne (preschoolers are germ factories!!), some chocolate bars, and more.

My favorite part of the basket though is the getting to know you form for her teacher. I saw *someone* post something similar to this on Facebook. I have looked high and low.. can not find the original source, so if you are them or know them -please email me and I will give credit where credit is due.

I love this idea.. I love knowing more about the amazing teacher that will be spending mornings with my Kiddo. I love having a better clue as to what I can buy her to thank her later in the year.

Really, it didn't cost too much and I sincerely hope it makes her smile...

Here's hoping Kiddo has an amazing day tomorrow. And of course I made her something to wear.. and something for Baby too. And, yes I'll show you tomorrrow..

Lots of love,
me

My Mojo, My Kiddo, and My Latest Quilts

No event or person should have the power to strip us of our joy. I was losing that joy at a rapid pace this past summer. There is something to be said for determination and seeking big, HUGE things. There is also something to be said in the quiet joys that feed our soul. I'm working on finding a balance between the two. It is safe to say my mojo is back. I'm hungry to quilt, to design, to share in the hopes of inspiring anyone that finds this blog. Thank you immensely for sticking around.. Really, thank you...

Kiddo is finally back to her crazy self. It was a rough recovery.. Ugh..Just in time to start her last year of conventional schooling. Wait, what? Yup, we have committed to homeschooling. I'm so excited to offer my girls this amazing new path. I'm not sure how much I'll be blogging about it, but if anyone is interested in learning more - please shout!

And on to some eye candy..

The finished baby Tetris quilt.. So much fun and it was pretty quick with the Accuquilt square die. The polka dot fabric came from a MQG swap last year. I love how my fellow quilting ladies are shared in this project.

 The polka dot binding makes me a little giddy.. My super talented friend, Ebony Love, has an amazing YouTube video on how to cut bias binding with the AccuQuilt - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mItQREJSs30 She also has an amazing die cut book coming out soon!!

Here is a picture of the back. This is the first project I quilted on Fiona (my mid-arm).. and yes, I will finally post about her later this week.. Yay!

And on to my "Bricks and Blocks" Halloween quilt.. Oh I want to wrap up in this with a pumpkin latte outside in the crisp fall air. I changed the layout a ton of times. If anyone wants a tutorial, please speak up.. It is a simple quilt that is fabulous to showcase some fabric favorites.

 Like these tidbits..Seriously.. Hands down, my favorite Halloween prints ever.. That is saying something...

 The top is done and will go on Fiona later this week to be quilted with a light grey fleece back for extra snuggly fun.

Both quilts will be going up in the Etsy shop later this month, but if the Halloween one doesn't sell by October 15th..then it is mine baby..oh yeah!

Lots more posts this week and no more blogging breaks for the foreseeable future. I even have a super easy booster seat tutorial coming in a day or so.

Lots of love,
Me

Surgery and More

I know it's been awhile since I've posted. Some of the reasons are good, some are not so good. Some of the reasons are personal and some are business. I am hoping to get back into the swing of things by the end of the month. 

Everything is put on hold for my sweet Kiddo. She is having her tonsils and adenoids removed tomorrow. I know some kids bounce right back and some have harder times.. Until we see how she does, I'm putting everything on hold to be there for endless cuddles..

I have a ton of fun projects that I have been working on this summer.. Can't wait to do a show &tell! Hope you are having a fabulous summer!

Bees and Things

I finally finished Feeling Stitchy's July challenge. I did the the bees twice; they were way scary in a pure black next to all the other subtle colors. Again, I ran to my Valdani thread colors - what can I say, I'm smitten with them! I'm pretty happy with Mrs. Bee, but I'm tempted to redo Mr. Bee for a third time..

This kitchen towel is part of a thank you gift for a friend that lives out of state. Utah (where I live) is the beehive state, so this seemed an appropriate gift. I'm going to fill a gift basket with a number of other Utah treats - chocolate truffles, Polygamy Porter microbrews, and more.

And I stayed up late quilting last night. What? Yeah, the Universe is pretty hilarious. It was really hard for me to confess yesterday about my lack of desire to design. Once I purged all my fears, I was flooded with ideas and couldn't wait to get back to it. More on that later..

I received a layer cake of polka dot fabric from my quilt guild last Thanksgiving. I was afraid if I placed it with my stash that it would be forgotten and never played with. I diced the fabric into squares and circles using my AccuQuilt Studio and Sizzix machine.

When I started playing with squares, it started to feel a lot like Tetris. I loved that game as diversion during my college years! Thought a rainbowific Tetris quilt would be fun. I thought for a minute that I must be clever and then it dawned on me that I wasn't probably the first to think of this. I found this fabulous Tetris quilt-a-long online over at Happy Quilting. I don't have enough squares to do the challenge, but it looks like great fun if you are interested.

I can't wait to finish this one up! I bought a Juki/Grace midarm earlier this month.. such a joy to me that deserves its own blog post later this week ;o)