Thursday, March 20, 2014

Rock-a-Bye Baby!


Tomorrow, I will be attending the wedding of my brother-in-law and his soon-to-be wife!  In July, they will welcome little E...a girl (in case the pink didn't give it away.) I'm excited to be an aunt again. This will be my kids' first cousin on their daddy's side.

I wanted to make something special for baby E. Her dad is a very talented musician, so that's right where my brain jumped when I designed this quilt for her! I wanted something sweet, but a little edgy. I dreamed this quilt up one day and chicken scratched it on paper...literally...chicken scratched.

In fact, my husband couldn't tell what each block I had drawn was supposed to represent.  I had to tell him.

I'm glad the quilt turned out WAY better than my speed drawing! When you get inspiration, you just have to go with it and write it down before you forget!

I can't wait to present my brother-in-law and my new sister-in-law with this quilt this weekend! I hope they like it!

In the meantime, SHHHH! They haven't seen it yet!

Pattern is available in my ETSY SHOP or my CRAFTSY SHOP!





Monday, March 17, 2014

If you give a DADDY a donut!

This week for preschool we are learning about several different topics related to circles.  To start the week off, I thought we would read IF YOU GIVE A DOG A DONUT and visit the closest Krispy Kreme. 

When the Favorite found out what we were doing, he wanted to be a part of the fun (Of course! Who wouldn't? lol.)

Buddy was fascinated by the doughnut machinery. We explained what the donuts were doing at each section of the equipment (i.e. where the dough drops in the oil, where the doughnuts get flipped, the glazing station. etc.)  
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YUM!
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Made sure I got in a picture this time! I'm never in the pictures!
 While we were there, we noticed that some of the doughnuts don't come out perfect (but probably still taste delicious!) So, when we were ready to order, we asked it they sold the mess ups at a discount.  We were told they don't.  THEY THROW THEM AWAY!  I was super disappointed! What a waste! At least donate them to the homeless or something! Or...hand them to me out the back door!

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This is his "smile" 
Some of the doughnuts they were throwing away were not very messed up either!  One little dough wart and it goes in the trash! Does that bother anyone else?!?!?

But, one thing we were not disappointed in was the taste! Krispy Kremes are never a disappointment when it comes to flavor.

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Ten loved it! Of course!

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Buddy ate 1 1/2 doughnuts by himself!

Daddy (aka...my Favorite) is convinced he wants to be more involved in the kids' education lol.

Friday, March 7, 2014

Easy FREE paper piecing patterns for beginners

Christmas StockingBirdhouse BlockForest Quilting has a lot of great blocks that would be easy for a beginner to learn on.  I'm not going to mention all of them, but the birdhouse, would be a great choice! The Christmas Stocking is a great one as well!







The Square in Square block from Wombat Quilts is a great learning piece as well! And would make a really beautiful quilt!
square in square quilt block

Even McCall's has their version.
Union Jack Block: FREE Mini Quilt Block Foundation Pattern
Just one block from their page.



Good Paper Piecing Tutorials



This tutorial is actually a GREAT beginner tutorial! Thanks to TheCraftyGemini!

Note: When trimming my seams, I just eyeball it.  I don't worry about folding the paper back and using a rotary cutter like she does at 4:55 in the video.

I also backstitch on all seams which I don't think she did.

To each their own.


Ellison Lane
also has a great tutorial. She does do a few things different than I do, but it works!  (click on the link to go to her site). 

And, of course, my tutorial.