Made Monday: Quilt

Finally finished up the quilt I've been working on. It was a gift for the new baby that joined our friends last week. I was hoping to get it done before his birth, but... he arrived a little early, so I'm going with that as the reason. hee-hee.

I forgot to take a picture of the back. It had a really vibrant blue print with modern little cars that looked abstract from far away. I'm really happy with how it turned out. It was definitively made with lots of love! This was one of those projects that whatever could go wrong did. My walking foot broke, and on & on. In the end, I do think the binding turned out perfect though. Hand sewn binding just makes a quilt for me. I also love the texture after I washed it and it got all nice & wrinkly through the quilting. Have a happy life in your new happy home.

Out-takes

Some fun outtakes from our Kunklebaby photoshoot today. I've had a huge PILE of stuff sitting here for 2 months waiting to be photographed so I could add it to my shop. We had a few spare minutes today so I decided to try and get some shots... and add Baby {J} to the Kunklebaby model mix. {haha}. He's 8 months old today! Can you believe it? He's so cute I can't even stand it!

Seriously? How many pics are you going to take Mama??

Biggest Brother feeling left out.

Almost done when who should show up? Batman! Little {L} was all dressed in his Batman gear, even sporting the Batman scowl. {did you all know Batman never smiles? I do now}

You can check out what made the "cut" in the shop. I'll be adding some new bibs through the weekend. Lots of girlie one's too. Take a peek at the CUTE shots!

Flashback Friday

Remember these? I was so excited when I finished this outfit for Little {L}! [Miss {M} had a dress in coordinating fabrics too-pure love]. They were some of my favorite outfits! I love the texture & use of color in Eric Carle's books. In my own artwork, I work often with many intricate textures and I love bright, vibrant color!

So fast forward [yes, you get a flashback and a flash forward this week-no your not watching Lost] to this week, and new little baby is getting to wear them. Let me tell you, Baby {J} is HUGE! He is 2 months old and wearing a size 12months! He's long and a bit round and we find him just perfect! When {L} wore these, he was standing and on the verge of independent walking. Baby {J} can't hold a toy or roll over and they are already on him. It's fun to look back and see how different, but also the same each of my kids have been.

Baby Unicorn

Some sewing for baby! When I was pregnant with Little {L}, the two older kids decided he or she needed a name. No baby could be without a name!! They decided to call him Eggy. Yes, weeks after he was born and named the kids still called him Eggy. They did finally start calling him by his actual name. That was quickly followed with their cousin Poppy's birth. She is a 1.5 years old now, and they still call her Poppy instead of her real name.

So, this new growing baby needed a name too! Within hours of telling them I was was pregnant with #4, the kids were calling him, or her, Baby Unicorn. When I said I was pregnant, Mr. {D} asked me how I knew it was going to be a baby? Cause really, if you can't "see" it, how could I be so sure a baby was growing in my belly, not something else, like a .....unicorn. This got such great laughs from his sister that this baby was named in that moment! I'm hoping for it's sake that it's a girl with that nickname. If we have another little boy, I'm not sure how much he'll like that--or this dress!

I've been in love with the Heather Ross, far far away fabric line as soon as I saw it! I have some of the princess and the pea fabric for a year now, but I've been too scared to cut it! My sister got me some of the unicorn, snails, and frogs fabric for my birthday! Thanks baby sister! I had to take advantage of this babies nickname and make a "if you come out a girl, dress". I love it. Right now it is hanging over the crib, and I smile every time I look at it! Mr. {D} actually asked me if the baby comes out a boy, will you make him wear that dress anyways, Mama?" Hilarious!

Some embroidered artwork for the wall. I love this fun mermaid pattern from Badbird!

The Eco-nomical Baby Guide

Book review time! I jumped at the chance to write a review of the new book by Joy Hatch and Rebecca Kelley, The eco-nomical baby guide! With the arrival of baby #4 coming in a few short months, we are thinking -all baby- at our house right now. Our family tries to live as eco-friendly as we can, so this book was right up my alley.

The authors write a blog, the greenbabyguide, where they discuss lots of eco-friendly tips, products and idea's. As my family has grown, we have incorporated more and more earth friendly ways, but at the same time, our income has been stretched a little more each time. What I love about this book is the premise that you can be good to our planet, AND afford it! There are so many eco-friendly, really awesome products I come across that are sadly, just way, WAY out of our price range.

This would be a perfect baby shower gift for first time parents! I wish I had this back when our family started growing. Much of the idea's in the book, we have already incorporated into our lives, but through trial and error and many years. It would have been so much easier to have a great reference guide like this! We are definitely a pro-breastfeeding, repurposing, green cleaning product, and organic eating family! The book really shows the pro's of these without being too preachy [as some books get]. Any family with young children, wanting to green up their choices would find this book helpful!

While we are are no longer first time parents, there was still plenty for me to learn too. There is a HUGE section on cloth diapering. Cloth diapering is the one thing that I always wanted to do, but just didn't know enough about it. I have no one to ask, and most resources list such dated material. This was fantastic for me. The different types of cloth diapers, uses, pro's/con's, and cost were shown in an easy to understand manner. I really likes the charts used in this section. Easy to see the choices compared to each other.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book. It has a nice, easy flow, that can put down and picked up [as anyone with little kids at home HAS to do!] without forgetting what your reading about. Each chapter focus on another subject which I really liked.

Color!

We are getting snowed in again here in Ohio. Lots of snow falling since yesterday afternoon. All the city schools are closed for a snow day, so we are too. My husband thinks it's silly that we have snow days when the kids are homeschooled, but snow days are fun for everyone!! A little break from the expected!

With the total lack of color going on outside, I needed a color fix inside! I made these new curtains and a rug for our kitchen last Friday. I love how they brighten up the space and make me feel more cheerful and warm!

The curtains are made with a sunny, Heather Ross print. I've been saving this one for over a year and finally cut into it. Heather Ross announced on her blog she will be doing a new line of some of her retired fabric prints with Spoonflower! I CAN'T wait!

-Please ignore my sink full of dihes and messy counters!!-

New Quilt

Some of you may remember this mermaid quilt I started last summer. Once I got to the binding stage, I never finished it. I knew then that I had to keep it for myself and pushed it aside for awhile. The other day I was overcome with the need to finish the blanket. I'm hoping this little baby is a girl and she can call the blanket her own.

It's hand bound in a pretty blue and white, checkered print. Every time I look at it, I smile! I love doing hand sewn bindings. The extra time and effort are worth it to me, for someone special! There are small splashes of blue throughout the quilt, so I think the blue coordinates, but also adds a sense of surprise and texture. Many people would have chosen a pink or green binding. Finding ways to use a feminine blue is my passion. I love blue, and I love blue for little girls even more!

Done!!

I finished the green quilt...and I LOVE it! This is one of favorites. The best part for me is the back. I love how the quilt looks pretty from both sides-either side "could" be the front.

I think the blanket is bright & colorful, and super fun for a little girl or boy. Making gender neutral things is really important to me. I think it's so silly that colors are assigned genders. When Mr. {D} was about 3 years old, he wanted a pair of purple shoes SO bad! Well, try explaining, they don't make purple boy shoes, only girl ones, to a toddler. It was frustrating!

I'll have the quilt with me this weekend at the Independence Day Show if anyone is interested in it.

Keeping Busy

Lots of quilting going on in the studio this week. I am hoping to finish 3 more quilts for the show on Saturday. It's an unrealistic goal, but hey a girl can try! I am almost finished with this green one. It turned out so nice! I used a fun abc & numbers print for the back. The two coordinate perfectly. I'm hoping to finish up my rocker quilt and a red, gender neutral one that I have been working on.

If they don't make it to the Independence Day show, they will be at Craftin Outlaws for sure. I'm also finishing up my application for Tiny Canary also. I had the BEST time at that show last year and would love to make it in again! It's so well organized and the crowd is awesome. Anyone local should check it out. Craftin Outlaws & Tiny Canary are great for stocking up on unique holiday gifts. We have been trying to give handmade for the past few years.

How about some good old messy faced kid pictures:

Her best impression of those old clown, hobo pictures. Haha, she actually had no idea her face was covered with dirt. She'll love this one when she's about 14 years old.

Sleeping after a hearty blueberry pancake breakfast

Quilts are done!

I finished up two more quilts yesterday. Hooray!! The brown one has hand sewn binding. It was able to stitch the binding while teaching the kids about adding with the number one yesterday. My favorite squares feature the dancing foxes. It's a Heather Ross Kokka import fabric. You can't tell from the picture, but it also has dancing frogs and bunnies.

The blue/green one has some cool binding also. After making this bias tape, I wanted to sew it onto everything!

I like that both of these quilts could be for a baby of either gender. I am in love with blue for girls-really, any color besides pink. Don't get me wrong, I like pink too, but overall, baby girl stuff has an overwhelming amount of it! Of course this means, my daughter has declared pink is her favorite color. Isn't that the way it always goes? Lucky for me, my boys like blue!

Today's plan are not too exciting. Mr. {D} has a doctors appointment with an ENT. Hopefully that goes well. The color of the week is red, and we are still working on T's and the numbers zero and one. {L} the littlest giant, is running through the house causing havoc and so happy about it.

What does your week hold for you?

The Dress

Little Miss {M} has been gently reminding me that she hasn't had a new dress in awhile.

She went so far to start drawing up a few dress idea's to show [inspire] me. When that didn't work I overheard her telling a story to her dolls. The story was about a beautiful little girl, who HATED pants! She told her Mommy & Dad, over and over she ONLY liked dresses and to stop buying pants, shirts, tank tops and shorts because she would not wear them. One day her parents finally understood and threw away every piece of clothing that wasn't a dress....and the little princess lived happily ever after.

I was so charmed by her little story, that I spend Friday night making her a new dress. I've had this one in the to-do pile for quite some time. I used some of my very favorite cotton prints and some linen!

When the last stitch was done, and all the thread cut I held up the dress and wished I could shrink like Alice in Wonderland. I am so in love with this dress that I'd love it to fit me!


The pattern was Modkid's Kyoko Dress. The pattern was super easy to follow! The only thing I would change would be to use french seams on the skirt panel. I didn't think of it until I already had 2 panels finished. Start to finish it only took me a few hours[although the bias tape was already made]

Textiles:
The bias tape was handmade :: Belt fabric is from Lizzy House :: The pears is a Japanese print from Robert Kauffman :: Solid teal is a lovely fresh linen ::

{M} woke up Saturday morning with a huge smile and spent lots of time twirling in her new dress. She asked me if I had even slept at all the previous night, because the dress looked like so much hard work. With a kiss, giant hug and a thank you, the dress was worth a million bucks!

Grow!

I am so excited to have our plants in the ground. We have been so busy lately, that we have not had time to plant yet this year. It feels good to know the plants are nestled into their summer homes!

Besides home grown veggies being delicious, I think it's really important to teach the kids where food comes from. They now understand it takes time and work to keep the plants growing and healthy. It's been wonderful watching them grow through the years and contribute more and more to the care & upkeep of the garden. When they were smaller, they started out just helping mama water. Last year they helped plant, water, pick and weed the garden. This year they are getting their very own area's to take care of all on their own. They are super excited, and honestly so am I. I look forward to the time when {L} can start helping too.

This year, if all goes well, we will have 8 different kinds of tomato's, peppers, carrots, swiss chard, cucumbers, garlic and carrots and multiple herbs-yum!

Helping out by keeping out of trouble! The best help of all-haha. Look at that sweet grin!

{ Kunklebaby Organics }

I have been working on a new Organic Collection from Kunklebaby. It will include a line with all 100% organic cotton fabrics. They are super soft-the ultimate in luxury for baby. Eco friendly is a great bonus! Organic cotton is free of pesticides. Cotton crops has the highest use of pesticides! Yuck! The fabrics are also from mills found in the United States.

Many of the designs are handprinted using my own artwork and designs.

Check the shop throughout the week for newly added pieces to the collection. This sweet pea bib will be in the shop later this week. Pea's are handprinted using textile ink. Since they are handprinted, each piece will be one of a kind-none of the the bibs will be exact replica's. So not only are you helping the environment, but your child gets their own special, useful piece of art too!

I'll be adding more bibs, clothing for boys and girl, and some accessories!