I am a bit behind on my posting and photos, but I thought I would post this one first since it has to do with Easter and that is all behind us now, isn't it? I'll never remember to post this
before Easter next year and I don't want to forget this idea. For my DD's birthday last year, she and I made these decorations in July using balloons, yarn and white glue.
It does take awhile to make them and so we made a few, then allowed them to hang and dry, then the next day, make a few more, allow them to hang and so on. Well in the midst of all that, our weather became hotter and more humid and that was when our air conditioning unit wasn't working properly and we had the drama of the dishonest repairman. As it grew more humid they wouldn't dry or stiffen and the final two actually distorted after we popped the balloons. So we finally stopped making them.
We couldn't bear to throw the misshapen ones out and eventually they ended up under our eves.(storage) Fast forward to Sunday morning (this morning) when I realized that I needed baskets for my teen's Easter candy! The last couple of years I have tried to use containers that they could use for storage in their rooms after Easter as "baskets" for their sweets, but this year I've been so busy and the holiday kind of just crept up on me. Truth is, I didn't give it a second thought until that very moment. I went to the storage area and as I looked in, my eyes were drawn to the bright colors and the idea just popped into my head! I took them out, cut off the strings tying them together and then just pushed them into themselves! They actually look more like nests than baskets, but think of all the things you could do with them! If you were to make these specifically for nests or baskets, I would have smaller spacing between the yarn (use more yarn) I had to put the jelly beans in baggies or some would have fallen out! The larger nests were made from the larger, better shaped decorations, the small nests from the two most misshapen decorations. I guess this is another example of recycling or re purposing? So glad we didn't throw them away! So - for today it's Happy Crafting!
I actually put the label on and bound this quilt on the 12th of April, right before my Guild meeting and shortly before I started coming down with bronchitis. It is the last thing that I quilted on my longarm. In 2011, I won 15 of these blocks at my guild, as part of the block of the month program. I loved the blocks and bought two to do, and was so thrilled that I actually won them! I also received a few undone blocks, and some material leftover from the cutting of the blocks. The block pattern was called "The Unnamed Block" which isn't very creative, but when I started playing with the layout of the blocks I realized just how versatile it is. I could have laid out the quilt in so many different ways, but I was a bit restricted with what I could do with the limited amount of fabric that was provided. I sewed additional blocks, and I like how I did the last border bit with the corners. I would love to do this again with some of my stash someday. I used just about every bit of the fabric, I even made a pillowcase for it. When I first brought this home and showed my dear hubby, he just loved the vibrant colors. He isn't very outspoken about my quilts, but he made it known how much he liked this one. I don't think I mentioned this before, but this past September, he was reassigned in the military to a new post about 4 hours north. Our family has remained here since my son in his last two years of high school and in a very good program. My hubby rents a small basement apartment 3 hours north of here and comes home every Friday night and leaves again Sunday night. His only complaint has been about how much colder it is there, and that the apartment always seems cold, so when I decided to make this for him, I used a micro fiber blanket as the backing. I also used 80/20 batting, so this is a pretty heavy quilt! The blanket I bought (from Target) was 90"X90" so with some of the leftover backing I made a couple of hats for him, since he is well, "folliclly challenged" it keeps his head warm!
This month's Christmas finish is a gift that is actually for this past Christmas, but it's still a Christmas finish just the same! I bought the fabric to make a purse/tote for my niece, but couldn't decide what to make, so I wrapped up the fabric and asked her to choose. She knew immediately what she wanted, unfortunately I was not so immediate in making it! I mailed it to her in time for Easter and made sure I put extra little goodies in it since she was so patient! The pattern came from the book Sew What! Bags by lexie barnes. The tote in the book was made from Mexican Oilcloth, so it had no lining. My DN wanted it quilted, and we both thought it should be bigger and have pockets on both sides and I thought a large inside pocket would be good to hold a pattern or book and the straps are longer and different. I forgot the ties until too late. I guess it's a totally different tote. Anyway, it was fun constructing it, I hadn't made a box like tote, so it was a good experience and I had a lot of fun quilting it! I have leftover quilted fabric, so she needs to tell me what else she wants made from it (hint, hint).
Wow, it has been awhile since I've posted - Blogger has completely changed! I have alot to show, but I won't do it all at once, too long of a post. Most of my family has been under the weather the last few weeks and now I've got bronchitis pretty bad. Case in point, I haven't sewn with either long arm or regular machine in 9 days! The photos are of a sweet little project for my great nephew Gus, a little Easter surprise, as it was tucked in a cute egg. My niece had "pinned" a similar idea on pinterest, beautiful, but very complicated with wool framing which seemed time consuming, so I wanted to try a simpler version. 
