There is.  It is just toddler style.  We made puppies. 

And check out my cool new scissor thing.  This is my 2nd favorite thing that came in the package- my new doll quilt being my favorite!  She also made a second quilt for Little Helper- so I don’t have to share mine.  So sweet of her to think of my little girl.  For the full run down on everything that is in here, check it out my flickr   photostream.

I guess I had better get my quilt in the mail for my partner!!

Little Helper has a little sister now!  She was born yesterday morning.  She is  a sweetheart and we already love having her as a member of our family. 

I do have a few things that I have finished and not talked about on here, so maybe I will share those in the coming weeks- no promises!!

So…my results of the ice cream social…

A dress…

I had been debating the linen of a pink fabric for the top and bottom and in the end I decided on the linen and I love it!  This is going to look so great on Little Helper!  Well, whenever it fits.  I made a 3T and I am pretty sure it will be huge on her.  She won’t try it on yet though.  I haven’t put a button on it, so she refuses. 

I made her a shirt too- also in View C. And 3T.  And with no button yet, so she won’t try it on.  So particular! 

(Sorry for sideways photos.  I was so surprised that they worked and I couldn’t easily figure out how to flip them after they were uploaded.  I didn’t want to push my luck!  I do have them rotated in my flickr stream.)

I also finished the baby sleep sack for my brother and sister in law and their little girl that is due a few weeks after my baby.  I LOVE how it turned out!  I did a horrible job of blogging the process, just after I promised.  But I just didn’t have time!!  Especially because I did have some frustrations along the way. 

As I mentioned in a previous post, I didn’t like that the pattern didn’t involve a zipper and I couldn’t decide on a back fabric.  Well, as much as I wanted to do a zipper, I don’t quite think that I am an experienced enough sewer to start adding in zippers yet- well, at least not on this pattern.  I couldn’t quite figure out how to do it without having made it before.  So, I stuck with velcro.  And the back fabric- I chose this dark pink that I actually had originally purchased to be part of the ice cream dress that I made for Little Helper and then decided not to use.  I think that it works perfectly! 

Here is the finished product:

I just LOVE how it turned out.  I really hope that my brother and sister in law do too!  I lined it with flannel as suggest in Anna Maria Horner’s pattern.  I didn’t find the instructions to be all that clear though.  I was a little disappointed in them.  I don’t know if I am just spoiled with O+S directions, or if these just really weren’t that great.  I am not turned off from the book though- I do really love the sleep sack!  And there are a few other things that I still want to make from it. 

I am also working on 3 quilts that I want done before the baby is born.  Well, I guess it is 4.  Hmmm….   One (stripe quilt) of them just needed the binding to be re-done.  I did the machine sewing on that a few weeks ago and it has been waiting to be hand sewn to the back.   Another (block quilt) needed a back, quilted, and needed binding.  Oh- and yeah- those were both supposed to be gifts.  Haha.  Not anymore!  I also had a colorwheel quilt top done and another top made with some Tula Pink Plume charm packs.  Little Helper has claimed that one.  She insisted that I put and A on the back for her name.    So here is where I am on these:

1.  Stirpe quilt- my mom is had sewing the back as I type.    She is visiting this weekend and didn’t want to sit around and do nothing.  I suggest she work on quilt bindings.  Funny story- I asked her how she did this part on her quilts.  She said that she gave it to her mom to do.  So, I am learning quickly!

2. Block Quilt:  I basted it, quilted it, made the binding, sewed the binding on.  Now it is waiting for my mom to finish sewing the binding on the stripe quilt.  Just kidding- it could be waiting for me to get to it. 

3.  Colorwheel quilt:  basted and ready to quilt.  I am taking vacation on Wednesday and I plan on staying home from work all by myself.  I am thinking that I might quilt it on Wednesday. 

4.  Tula Pink Charm quilt- I am in the process of quilting it!  I have the binding picked out, I just need to get to that part!  I have decided to try some flowers from a tutorial from Oh Fransson.  So far it is going pretty well!  I am almost halfway done and I expect to be done with quilting it tomorrow. 

I just tried to upload this photo and it errored on me.  I guess my luck ran out!  I am showing you a picture that is of a pretty good flower.  They aren’t all this nice.  But, they look pretty good!  I am happy with them. 

Well, I think that I am going to go do a bit of knitting- I have a blanket that I need to finish before this baby is born!  I didn’t have Little Helper’s blanket finished until she was 1- I need this one to be done before he/she is born! 

Have a great night!

I have a few things to share…first…I finished my doll quiltfor DQS9.  It isn’t as fancy as most of the ones that people are making.  I kind of feel like mine isn’t as cool as everyone else’s.  But I really like it.  And Little Helper keeps asking me if it is hers.  I have had to promise that I will make one for her.  But since I put the first letter of my partner’s name on the back, I have told her that hers will have an A for her name on the back and that is how she will know it is hers. 

I am also working on the sleep sack for my neice that will be born in September.  It took me a while to choose fabric, but I finally did!  Here is what I chose.  I kind of went back and forth on whether I wanted to follow the same idea that AMH did in the book and do 2 in squares for the patchwork front or if I was going to switch it up and do something different.  In the end, I decided 2 in squares (well, I cut them to 2.5 and finished they are 2 in).  I decided on the squares for 2 reasons:  I really like how it looked in the book done that way and I feel somewhat short on time and I didn’t want to spend a lot of time doing something and then end up not liking it. 

I did think that rather than doing a 20×24 in rectangle as suggested in the book, I cut out my pattern front and used it as I went to just sew together enough squares to cover the pattern.  I think that this picture shows what I mean.  And here is the fabric not covered by the pattern ease. 

Now I have 2 decisions to make. 

1. What fabric should I used for the back?  My husband has suggested thisone.  This fabric looks totally different in person than it does in thie picture.  I was really trying hard to figure out if it was the same one.  I was thinking the clouds.  What do you think??
2. Do I want to try to add a zipper?  I really prefer sleep sacks with zippers, but I am not sure if it is a good idea to add a zipper the first time I make it.  I am not sure if I am that experienced of a sewer yet!  I have to go to Joann’s tomorrow for some flannel lining and velcro anyway, so I might pick up a zipper and see how things go!

I am hoping to have this sleep sack done this weekend!  Hopefully I will be sharing finished photos of this by the end of day Sunday.  I also have to admit, that if I have a little girl, I might totally copy the sleep sack that AMH did in her book.  I just so LOVE the one that she did in her pink Little Folks Voile.  It is also possible that if I have a boy, I will just copy it, but in blue. 

Here is Little Helper in my favorite one that she ever had, sleeping in our bed when she was 2 months old.

It is hard to tell in this picture, but it is white with tiny little pink polka dots on it and pink edging.  I got it on sale at Pottery Barn Kids shortly after she was born. 

For Mother’s Day, my husband and Little Helper gave me Anna Maria Horner’s latest book Handmade Beginnings and there is a pattern in it for a baby sleep sack and I NEED to make one.  But I have decided that I actually need to make 2.  I want to make one for my baby, but I am going to wait until after he/she is born so that I can make it gender specific.  And it won’t be used right away anyway- this baby is due in August! 

The second one that I need to make is for my brother and sister in law.  They are going to have a little girl shortly after my baby is born.  This is where my stumped post title comes in.  I can’t decide what fabric to use!!!  I am trying to make something girly that isn’t too pink.  And I have enough fabric that I should be able to pick something out that isn’t all the same fabric line and isn’t all pink, but is sweet and girly.  But I am stumped.  I don’t know what to use.  I don’t know for sure what sort of patchwork front I want to do.  I am stumped. 

So where does this leave me?  I will tell you.  I am going to take the process pledge.   And my first thing to post about is going to be this baby sleep sack for my brother and sister in law- well, I guess it is actually for my neice. 

The first part of my process is going to happen today.  I am going to look through the fabric that I have and I will take some pictures of some combos that I am thinking of.  I will share those with you soon!

I, Rebecca, pledge to talk more about my processes, even when I can’t quite put them in the in words or be sure I’m being totally clear.   I’m going to put my thinking and my gut feelings out there.  

I am working on my doll quilt for DQS9, I re-quilted a quilt that the quilting wasn’t great on, did new binding on that and another quilt (I still have to hand sew these, but I am taking them with me to the lake this weekend), I cut fabric for a color wheel quilt that I bought fabric for AGES ago, finished my portion of the blocks for the quilt that my sister and I are making for our mom, finished up a bunch of gifts for a friend and a cousin, made some blocks for bee quilts- that is all I am coming up with right now- but I had pictures to show!

I also was lucky enough to win a giveaway!  I had entered Jaquie’s Spring to Finish challenge this year and I was a winner!  I won fabric that Cheryl of Naptime Quilter was giving away!  I was so excited to win!  She sent 6 fat quarters in greys and yellows.  One of them is yellow birds on a grey background and I just love them! 

Anyway…someday I will be back with photos of stuff.    I just have to get my IT department/husband to take a look at things and figure our what is up.  But right now he is way too busy applying a screen protector to his iPad. 

Hi Swap Partner! 

First, I want to thank you for taking the time to make something for me that I am sure is going to be awesome.  I can’t wait to see it! 

Second, I know that I have been terrible about really getting my likes and dislikes out there.  I do have some favorites in my flickr photostream, but I never did a mosaic and I don’t have any info in my flickr profile and I don’t even remember what I put on my DQS9 sign up sheet!  So- sorry about that!  I am now sharing this info with you just in case you aren’t sure what to do.  However- if you are already inspired with a fantastic idea- please go with it!  I do not want to deter you from a path that you are excited about!

I find it so hard to narrow down what I like!  There are so many things out there that I wouldn’t think that I would like, but I love!  So, I am going to try.  But just because I don’t say it here, doesn’t mean that I won’t like it.  I can say that I don’t like things that are super busy.  My favorite colors are pink (probably a fuchsia-y pink) and I like purple.  I like aqua and other light blues.  Spring green is great.  I guess I don’t like really dark colors or neon colors.  But I like bright and saturated colors.  I like wonky, I like straight lines, I like appliqued stuff and I like embroidered quilt.  I haven’t really done much of either (well- no embroidery yet) but I would like to get some experience in both at some point!  I like the quilts that are like little pictures, and I like the ones that are more traditional designs (in more modern colors).  I always hear people talking about fabrics that are civil war reproductions- not really sure what these look like, but they don’t sound like ones that I would be into.   

I am also fairly certain that Little Helper (my 2.5 year old daughter) is going to claim this as hers.  And it will be loved by her and her babies, no matter what it looks like!  And if she is happy, I am happy.  (I know- cheesy, but I am a mom!  And that is really how I feel!) 

So…have fun!  And I am so excited to see what you create!!

In the mean time…I have some other things to show you.  And to be honest- they are much less interesting!  But I am thrilled- because I am totally caught up on my Bee blocks!!  I have NONE sitting here and waiting for me to sew them!  Yay!!

Log cabin for Sorrel- In Laker’s colors!

Christmas blocks for Frieda…

These Christmas blocks were a process!  I didn’t start them with the intention of them looking like this.  I started with one block that was supposed to be all 4 of the 9 patch sections.  But it felt too busy.  So I made trees.  I really like how they turned out!

And some ticker tape blocks for a Bee Friend. 

I have really been enjoying these small projects.  They come together quickly and I feel like I accomplished a lot this weekend.  However, I am really missing the larger project satisfaction finish that I get with the making of a quilt. 

So…I am making plans for my next quilt.  Little Helper is soon going to be a big sister.  The new baby will get her crib and she will get a new “Big Girl Bed”.  When she gets a new bed, she will (of course!!) need a new quilt for her bed.  My husband and I have been undecided about hat kind of bed she was going to move into, so I couldn’t make a quilt for her.  Well, we finally decided this weekend!  We bought a new KING sized bed for us parents to sleep on!  That means our old full size bed will be Little Helper’s.  (as a side note- I am SO EXCITED to get our new bed- it will be delivered on Thursday!!)

Ok- so I have these Mendocino fabrics that I purchased a while ago and I was thinking that I would use those for her quilt.  Others that I was considering was Far Far Away by Heather Ross, but I don’t have as many of those.  Plus, Little Helper likes pink.  And I have some pink Mendocino, so that will make her happy.  She likes Mermaids too- all good things!  Anyway- I am deciding on a pattern and I have 2 that I am considering.  Anyone want to weigh in with a vote???

Mixtape Quilt

OR

New Wave Quilt?

I am also knitting a blanket for this next baby.  I am really enjoying that! 

And since I am rambling about all sorts of nonsense today…I came across this blog post today-  http://r0ssie.blogspot.com/2010/05/process-pledge.html and the one that she links to on mutant quilting.  I have some other thoughts on this that I will share in a later post.  It is something that I have been thinking about for a while now. 

Have a great week!

Today, during Little Helper’s nap, I thought it was time to try to catch up on Quilt Bee Blocks.  I am officially caught up now!  Well, I have my May ones left to do, but since May is not over yet, I am not behind yet.  Here are my blocks for Becca in A Piece of Work B.  She sent all of us different fabrics and told us to do whatever we wanted- just do not follow a pattern.  One of our fabrics was the focus fabric.  My focus fabric was the hippos. 

I have been sewing colored pencil rolls.  It all started as a going away gift for a friend’s daughter because they were moving to Texas.   The first one I made (no photo) had a plain linen exterior.  My seam allowances on the inside color strip must be a little larger than 1/4 in. because my color strip ended up being too long.  With the first one I made, I (foolishly) trimmed the ends so that it would be the right length.  This made it really difficult to fit the end colored pencils in.  So when it came time to make my other 2, the linen pieces that I had cut were too short.  So I had to dip into my fabric stash to find something else that would work.  And I found frogs! 

Little Helper likes hers.  She chose the one with the pink and orange frogs.  The one with green frogs will be going into the mail to another little girl right around Little Helper’s age. 

The pattern for this is from the book Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts.  I did a couple of things differently than they said.  It said to hand sew in a part and I chose to edge stitch with my machine instead.  I don’t really like hand sewing that much and I am not very good at it.  I think that the edge stitching looks just fine too!

I also finished the 2+2 Blouses that I showed you fabric for a while ago.  I LOVE how they turned out!  I finished them (except for buttons and button holes) last Sunday.  Then, Wednesday night, I finished sewing the buttons on one of them- and Little Helper wore it on Thursday.  I washed it and she found it in the laundry basket this morning and decided that she wanted to wear it again.  I love that she is choosing to wear the things that I make for her. 

Here is the other one that I made:

I gave Little Helper a choice on which one she wanted.  She picked the one that was just faces.  Although, I think that I would have picked the other!  She tells me the other is for someone else.  So…looks like this goes into the gift pile!

I expect to be working on a few more gifts in the coming weeks.  So, lots of little projects.  But that should also mean that I will have lots of pictures to share!

As a side note, I am currently between good cameras.  We decided to upgrade our DSLR camera and we sold our old one yesterday.  We expect our new one to come in the mail tomorrow.  In the mean time, I am stuck with my point and shoot and the quality of photo is really not very good, particularly after looking at my DSLR camera pictures for the last year and a half!