Mommy by day Crafter by night

Out to Sea Quilt

2013-06-12T09:42:00.001-04:00

One of my very favorite quilt blogs is Red Pepper Quilts. I love Rita's style and I can always count on her to inspire me daily with the things she creates! When I saw her Pieced Scrap Border quilt tutorial a couple years ago I knew that I wanted to make one very similar!

I followed her tutorial to put together my blocks but changed up the measurements a bit- I used 2.5 inch strips instead of 1.5. I had to throw in the map in the middle because it just seemed like the perfect place for it, and also added some borders.

I absolutely love the Out to Sea line from Sarah Jane. Most of the fabrics I used in this quilt are from the line, but I did throw in a handful of other scraps I had lying around.

When I was initially gathering my fabric and planning for the quilt, I was only going to use navy blue and pink. Last minute I decided to throw in some orange to match the mermaids hair and I am so glad that I did. I love the colors and it is one of my favorite quilts I have made thus far!

I wanted this quilt to be light and easy for my daughter to drag around the house, so I backed it in minky and skipped adding batting. I love the weight of it.

I quilted straight lines diagonally creating large X's through each block.

I used all of the leftover scraps to create a super scrappy binding... It wasn't the smoothest binding with seams every 2 inches at some points but I love how it turned out.

Happy Hexagon Trivets

2013-06-03T08:00:00.000-04:00

There are certain people that just inspire me with everything they make... Ayumi is one of them...

When her book Patchwork, Please came out I knew that it was going to be awesome! I bought it knowing without a doubt that I would not be disappointed! Every project is darling in this book!

I was most excited about the Happy Hexagon Trivet... It is adorable! I knew it would make the perfect Mother's Day present for my mom.

To make the trivet you foundation paper piece the top. I love foundation paper piecing! Everything turns out PERFECT! I was so pleased with this project... I made a couple for my mom and one for my grandma . I think this will be my go-to housewarming gift for the future! It is simple but packs a big punch when you use up all your favorite scraps! :)

Another darling project in the book is this Prettified Pincushion... It is also foundation paper pieced. I knew it would be the perfect gift for my mom-in-law since she likes to sew as well.

My hubby's grandma loves to drink tea so I figured that I would make her a "mug rug" for her tea cup... I made a mini version of the hexagon trivet by just printing it at 100% instead of enlarging it like that pattern calls for.

You can see the difference in size... It was a cute tiny thing! :)

I LOVE THIS BOOK! I definitely recommend it to anyone that loves making pretty little things! Check out the Flickr pool for the book to see some of the things others have made by using patterns found in the book.

Field Study Reversible Sunday Sling

2013-05-25T09:15:00.000-04:00

It's no secret that I am a huge fan of Anna Maria Horner fabric and Amy Butler patterns!

AMH's Field Study line has been one of my favorites this year... I used almost the entire line in my Scrappy Trip Along quilt and used up some of my leftover scraps to make a makeup bag...

Last year I made Amy Butler's infamous Weekender Bag. So I thought I would try another Amy Butler pattern... I went for the Reversible Sunday Sling.

I love love love this bag! I made this one for my little sis and have plans to make one for myself and possibly another for a gift.

For the Exterior of the bag, I used Field Study Parenthetical in Potpourri . It is a linen/cotton blend. I love working with it. It is a gorgeous fabric! Those feathers.... ahh....swoon!

One of the things that drew me to this pattern was the cute handles. I love how they are just tied in a knot. It totally makes the bag different than any other I have seen or made.

Did I mention that it is reversible?!? Umm... Can it get any better?

For the interior of the bag I used AMH LouLouThi Clippings in Passion. I love this fabric so much! I have quite a bit of yardage in this print and am thinking it would be perfect for a summer skirt.

I wish I would have placed my pattern pieces a little different so that the huge roses weren't lined up awkwardly... Oh well- you live and you learn- right?

I am loving these big pockets! They are on both side of the bag. Lots of places to store things!

I made the small version of the bag... Which is still quite large- It measures 18" wide x 14" tall (28" tall with handles) x 3 deep.

I pretty much stuck to the pattern when making this bag but I did make one little change- I left off the cell phone pocket. I figured with all of the pockets on it already I didn't need to make a separate one for a phone.

My only tip when making this bag is to make sure you use a brand new heavy duty needle when putting together the bag!

This pattern was super easy to follow and very clear. I definitely recommend it! :)

(I bought my pattern here.)

Out to Sea and Oliver + S Dresses

2013-05-20T13:37:00.001-04:00

So I know Easter has come and gone, but it's never too late to share a cute little dress, right?

Last year I made handmade Easter dresses for my girls for Easter Sunday.... So I wanted to do the same this year, but instead of designing them myself, I opted to use a pattern.

I am head over heels for this Out to Sea fabric by Sarah Jane... I knew that it would be perfect for Easter Dresses.

I used the Oliver + S Puppet Show Dress pattern for my youngest daughters dress. I made the size 2 but it was slightly large on her through the sleeve and pretty roomy in the skirt/dress... She is almost 3 but she's a tiny little thing. It will fit her for a while...

I used the My Favorite Ship in Breeze for the main part of the dress and then Raspberry Pirate Stripe for the accent fabric and I used up some of my vintage anchor buttons that I inherited from my grandma.

I really loved this pattern. I love anything by Oliver + S so that is no surprise! It is out of print so it is only available in PDF form but it's just darling! I can't wait to make some of the puppet show shorts for my girls to wear this summer.

I used the Oliver + S Fairytale Dress pattern for my oldest daughters dress. It is probably my favorite Oliver + S dress I have made yet ( I have made this dress, the Ice Cream Dress, and the Puppet Show Dress now). I have made the Fairytale Dress twice now (still need to blog about the first one I made). This time I made it without the collar and sash. It's fully lined with lightweight voile and has an invisible zipper in the back. It is such a great pattern! I will make it again and again I am sure...

I used the size 3 pattern for the bodice and the size 4 for the skirt of the dress. She is 4 years old but tall and skinny.

One of my very favorite things about this dress is the tulip sleeves. Could they be any cuter? I think not! ;)

For this dress I used Sail Away in Bloom for the entire dress. This fabric is mostly white but has ships, water, and clouds along each of the selvage edges so I was able to place my pattern pieces to keep the ships along the bottom edge of the dress and keep the bodice and sleeves white. I did have to place my pattern pieces the opposite way the pattern called for on the skirt, but it turned out great still. I needed a bit more yardage so that I had enough of the white for the top of the dress too.

I love the way they turned out and so did the littles... Job accomplished!

DIY Dolly Towel Tutorial

2013-05-10T01:08:00.001-04:00

Last weekend while we were visiting family in Kansas, we were able to take our girls to the American Girl store.... They have been a couple times and they LOVE it! It is was fun to watch them look at everything and try out all the fun accessories with their babies.

My oldest had been saving her birthday money for our trip so she could buy something new for her baby. Once we got there, she was torn between a new outfit and a towel. She ended up buying the new outfit but I could tell that she was still thinking about that towel for the rest of the day. Once we got home from our trip, I decided it would be fun to make a towel for her baby.

It was so easy and quick... I made two towels for about $6. Pretty great deal since it would have cost me over $20 to buy at the store!

Supplies:

(you can actually make 2 towels with the supplies listed below... If you make two towels be sure to measure twice and cut once because you will need almost all of the fabric I listed. If you prefer to only make one towel you can just cut one of each piece instead of two like I am instructing)

1/2 yard terry cloth (I got mine at Joann- located in the baby section near the minky fabrics)

1 package double folded bias tape

(I made my own bias tape- I used a fat quarter per towel- I am not sure how much binding comes in the prepackaged binding so you may need 2 packs if you are making two towels-)

Step 1: Cut two pieces that are 18x18. These will be the main part of each towel.

Step 2: Cut one 9x9 square. Then cut it in half diagonally to create triangles. These will be the hood for each towel.

Step 3: Place one triangle on one of the corners of one large square. Be sure the nap of the terrycloth is going in the same direction on each piece. I used a plate as a template to round the edges of my towel, but if you prefer you can leave them straight. (if you are making two towels repeat this step for the second towel)

Step 4: Bias binding... If you are using a pre-made bias binding then you are all set- if you are making your own binding you will make the bias tape at this point. (I am not going to do a step by step on how to do this, but if you need one, Dana at MADE has a great tutorial on how to make bias tape. If you rounded the corners on your towel you will need to make your binding on the bias for stretching around the curves but if you are leaving your corners square you don't have to make your binding on the bias.)

I wanted a really tiny binding so I cut my strips of fabric on the bias to be 1 1/2 start so once I folded them (double fold) they were pretty tiny (just under 1/2 inch). You can use whatever size you would like, but I think the weight of the tiny bias worked well with the thin terrycloth. I used a fat quarter so I had to piece a lot of strips to get the length I needed... I made about 90 inches of bias but didn't use quite that much per towel.

Step 5: Attach the bias binding. (I am not going to do a step by step on how to attach the binding, but here is another great tutorial by Dana at MADE on how to sew on binding. I sew my tape on the "proper way" like she explains and it looks really nice.)

To start, sew your binding to the bottom edge of the triangle.

Step 6: Once your binding is sewn to the hood of the towel (triangle) place the triangle back on the main part of the towel and pin in place. I basted the hood to the towel so that it stayed in place when I attached the rest of the binding but that step is optional.

Step 7: Apply the rest of the binding to the outside of the towel.

That's it! You are done!! Unless of course you are making two towels- then repeat the steps for the second towel.

I hope your little one enjoys this new towel as much as my gals do!

Fun Fabric Find: ModeS4u Fabric Shop

2013-05-07T11:15:00.000-04:00

As most of you know... I am a huge fan of fabric!

I have a darling local shop where I find some of my fabric, but I like buy most of my fabric online when I find good deals/sales- so I love it when I find a great online shop to add to my list!

My most recent find is ModeS4u.

It is a darling Kawaii shop that sells darling fabric, buttons, stationary, washi tape, and Bento Boxes (which are fun Japanese lunch boxes).

They were kind enough to let me choose out 5 fat quarters to review. I loved browsing their shop and had a hard time narrowing down to 5! They have so many darling fabrics to choose from!

I chose Kokka Polkadot Matryoshka Dolls in pink, Colorful Kawaii Animals in school by Cosmo, Echino Frame Canvas, Echino Stag with Glasses, and Cosmo Matryoshka Dolls in cream .

I love them all! I have big plans for an i-spy quilt for my girls and have been slowly collecting fabrics over the past 2 years to include in it... I am thinking that they little animals in school and both matryoshka fabrics will a perfect addition to my stash for that quilt! They are just too cute!

As for the animals in frames and the deer wearing glasses- those are strictly for me! hee-hee! Both of these have been on my wish list for a while now, but you know how things go- being a mom I always buy fabric to make things for my girls before I buy some to make something for myself. I have big plans for these pretties!

I couldn't believe how quickly the fabric shipped from Hong Kong! It arrived here in 7 days! Look how darling they package it up! I love it!

I will definitely be placing another order soon! There were so many other fabrics that just might need to be a part of my stash! Plus, I think my girls would love a darling Bento Box or two to play with in their little kitchen! I am thinking these might fit the bill! :)

Oliver + S Mini Messenger Bag

2013-04-26T16:01:00.000-04:00

This week was Kids Clothes Week... A week to sew clothing for your kids. It's been a fun week for instagram- seeing all of the cute clothes that were created! I can't believe how talented some people are!

Even though I had grand hopes and ideas for joining in, I guess you could say I kinda- pretty much- failed. No cute clothes were made in my home this week... but I did manage a cute accessory so it wasn't a total fail! ;)

Ever since I got the Oliver + S Little Things to Sew book I have been wanting to make the small messenger bag for each of my girls. (it's probably the main reason I bought to book)

I love Oliver + S patterns because they are written so well and the finished product is neat and professional looking. This pattern did not disappoint... I love the way it turned out and so did the Little Miss! Score!

When I got this darling Thumbelina fabric a few months ago I didn't really have any idea what I would make with it, but I think this project perfectly showcased the print.

I am head over heels for these birds, hedgehogs, flowers, and polka dots- and Thumbelina riding a bird with a parasol- it doesn't get much cuter than that!

I used Carnaby Street Rose Girl About Town for the interior of the bag, linen for the handle, and Marmalade Stripe in Leaf for the bias trim.

The fabric that I used for the outside of the bag was a pretty lightweight linen and the interior of the bag was quilting cotton so I ended up making a slight change to the pattern- I used duck cloth in between the two layers to make it a little more heavy duty. (I just used the duck cloth for the main bag flap, the side panels of and the front panel- so I didn't used it on any of the pockets or pocket flaps- the end result wasn't too bulky or heavy- just the right weight.)

This little messenger bag is the perfect size for my tiny 4 year old- big enough to carry her stuff but not too big to overpower her.

Now the other Little Miss is requesting her very own bag as well... Guess it's off the the sewing machine for me- but who's complaining! I love it when they request I make them something! :)

Have a great weekend! xoxo, Ashley

A Very Scrappy Trip Along... FINISHED!

2013-04-16T08:00:00.000-04:00

I finally finished my Field Study Scrappy Trip Along quilt! What a relief!

I used mostly prints by Anna Maria Horner's newest line: Field Study, but I did throw in a couple Lou Lou Thi prints, a few Bloomsbury Garden prints, Timber and Leaf, and a couple other random prints. I love the bold, crazy color scheme... I think it tied together well.

It ended up being 90x100 inches so it was slightly larger than a standard queen sized quilt. Holy Cow! I am so happy to be done with it. I loved making it, but after cutting, piecing, quilting, and binding this massive quilt- I was sick of it! Now that it's finished, any unkind feelings have since been forgotten!

I went for a very scrappy quilt... I used most of the leftover strips for the binding and part of the backing so it turned out VERY colorful and VERY scrappy. I love it though. It is definitely one of a kind!

It was so large that there was no way for me to take a picture of the entire quilt by myself, so I draped it over a tree branch and was able to get a picture of a portion of it. (almost half is tucked under and hanging over the back of the branch.)

Although my quilt is super scrappy, I couldn't let go of all control- I had to keep some sort of fabric/color/design to tie it all together- maybe next time I will throw all order to the wind and go completely scrappy. I used the blue leopard print on the long diagonal of each block to create the unified diamond. The rest is totally random and scrappy.

I quilted the quilt myself by doing straight lines with my walking foot. It resulted in a grid of 3 3/4 inch squares. I am not brave enough to try my hand at free motion quilting yet- especially on a quilt this size, but I am pleased with the way it turned out...

Last year, when I did a little makeover on my bedroom, I bought a duvet cover for my bed. I loved it, however, after only a handful of months, the cover started to rip/tear at the button closure. I couldn't believe it! It was unrepairable. So I decided when I started my Scrappy Trip Along quilt that it would replace our duvet. I was able to salvage the backside of the cover and use it as a quilt back (I did have to add some scraps to make it large enough but I had a pretty large piece to start with). So in the end, I didn't feel as horrible about the duvet not holding up in the long run.

I think the quilt looks great with my pillows. It definitely adds to the eclectic feel of my room. My husband even likes it! Win Win!

I loved following along with all of the other talented quilters and seeing the progress on Instagram! So fun!! Can't wait to get working on my Marcelle Medallion quilt now! Yay for Instagram quilt alongs!!!

Leopard print, Y-seams, and voile.... oh my!

2013-03-21T18:40:00.001-04:00

Last week I finally finished my Field Study scrappy trip along (king sized) quilt top. I love how vibrant and bold the colors are! And the leopard print... oh my... how I love it! I tried the quilt top on my bed today- just to see how it looked. It's perfect! The colors match and it totally adds to the eclectic look in my bedroom... Now I need to quilt the beast!

The problem is... I keep getting myself sidetracked! Since finishing the quilt top, I have started 2 other quilts. I just can't help myself...

Sew Mama Sew had another fabulous $6 sale on AMH Good Folks Voile and I had birthday money burning a hole in my pocket so I just HAD to order some! (As if I needed any more added to my little folks stash- but one can never have too much- right?) I managed to snag enough to back a quilt and make a shirt or two.

I started collecting my Little Folks Voile last year and have been perusing the Little Folks Flickr Group for inspiration ever since. After hearing how slippery it is to sew with, I settled on starting with a basic patchwork squares quilt to get a feel for working with it. Once I get the hang of working with voile, I have plans to make a Little Folks Swoon quilt that may look something a little like this beauty...

(These scraps are so beautiful I can't bring myself to throw them in the trash! ha ha)

After the Scrappy Trip Along and the X-Plus Along on Instagram came the Medallion Along.

I couldn't help but join in once I saw this beautiful quilt! So far I have my center medallion done... Which was quite the feat given that I mixed up my templates and started sewing it together with the pieces mixed up... and then there was the Y-seams! ha ha Don't let it scare you though- if you are a responsible "template maker" and are patient, it's really not that hard! It was my first time with y-seams and they were not as hard as I thought they would be... my points are not perfect, but we are rolling with it! :)

Stay tuned for my progress and definitely check Instagram for inspiration! #marcellemedallion #medallionalong

For anyone that is wanting to make the Marcelle Medallion quilt, you can find it in the Liberty Love book by the talented Alexia Abegg or you can also find the pattern in the new Love Quilting & Patchwork magazine that just hit Barnes & Noble here in the US.

I picked up a couple copies this afternoon. It was a little surreal when I opened a magazine in B&N and saw my face starring back at me! I showed a little self control and only bought 2 copies... and I showed even more self control and refrained from showing the lady that was standing next to me! ha ha

I heard it should be available in Joann stores as well but didn't have any luck finding it in my local store... probably in the next week or so.

Hope you are all having a wonderful week!

xoxo, Ashley

A Year Full of Firsts

2013-02-28T13:55:00.001-05:00

Do you ever have years that seem to be good years and years that seem to be not so good?? I do. So far this year seems to be shaping up to be a pretty good year so far... I feel like it as been packed full of a bunch of "firsts" for me... I thought I would share some of the fun firsts with y'all today...

Without fail, each and every year, I make a new years resolution to write in my journal everyday.... and wouldn't you know it- I have never succeeded! Until this year (so far). I got the idea from the darling Camille Roskelley to get this lovely one line a day... 5 year memory book- she is almost done with 5 years of memories! Amazing!

(another first for me this year (some of my fellow fabric junkies may have picked up on it in the picture): I splurged and bought some of my favorite Liberty Lifestyle Bloomsbury Garden fabric... Oh. My. YUMMY!! I found mine here. I bought a fat quarters of a handful of my favorite prints and I am not sure what I am going to do with it yet, but for now I am content drooling over them on my sewing table... ;)

------------------

While I was home visiting over Christmas and New Years, I had the chance to meet one of my favorite bloggers in the world: Amy from Diary of a Quilter... To say I have a blog crush would be an understatement... more like official blog stalker! ha ha

I have learned all of my quilting basics from this lovely lady... She is soo soo talented! And as if that wasn't enough- she is one of the nicest people I have ever met. We had such a fun time browsing a darling fabric shop called Material Girls Quilt Shop that I was visiting for the first time (I told you this post was all about "firsts") and chatting over lunch at one of my all time favorite places to eat: Cafe Rio (definitely not a "first"). It was so much fun! Thanks for taking the time to meet up with me Amy!! xoxo

------------------

On Valentine's Day this year... I had a fun thing happen that I would have never dreamed of... I was featured in a magazine. A very lovely, inspiring, and quilty magazine based in the UK called Love Quilting and Patchwork. For those of you that are a big fan of the CrossStitcher magazine, this is made by the same company.

I have no idea why they picked little old me to be included in such a lovely magazine, but I feel lucky to be along side the talent featured within. I haven't gotten my hands on a copy yet since it hasn't made its way to the US yet, but I am told that it should be on sale here shortly (around the end of March) so keep your eyes out for meand be sure to let me know if you happen to spot it here because you know I am going to be buying one (or ten) copies when it hits the stores! ;) For anyone that is itching to get a copy sooner than the end of March, it is available on iTunes. If you download the free CrossStitcher app in your newsstand, you can buy the Love Quilting and Patchwork magazine within that app.

Until then, I thought I would give you a sneak peek of my page in the magazine... They featured my Sewing Storage.

Of course I had to give a shout out in my article (orange box that says "blog hop") to the lovely Maggie of Smashed Peas and Carrots who inspired my mini fabric bolts. Thanks again for such an awesome trick Maggie!

I have big plans for that beautiful quilt featured on the front of the magazine by Alexia Abegg ! Maybe I will use up some of my Bloomsbury Garden stash to make it! The pattern is included in the magazine. I can't wait to get started on it! It has sparked an impromptu quilt along on Instagram- look up the hashtags #medallionalong and #marcellemedallion for some yummy pictures on Insta. Anyone else in on the Medallion Along train?

I am quite taken with these impromptu quilt alongs on Instagram... At the beginning of the year I jumped on board with the Scrappy Trip Along and seriously considered the xplus along too! This is the first quilt along that I have personally followed along with and it is so addicting! I have had so much fun watching all of the pictures pop up all over Instagram... It is so inspiring and fun to see the different fabric combinations people are coming up with! I went with mostly Field Study fabric by Anna Maria Horner, but threw in a couple randoms too.

I am all done with all 72 of my blocks... That's right ladies and gents... I went for the long haul and made an over sized queen for my bed. I am piecing all of the blocks this week and then I will be onto quilting it... I will be sure to post pictures when I am all done!

------------------

A couple weeks ago, I decided to try making an Oliver + S pattern for the first time. I decided to make a little Ice Cream Dress for a friend who had just had a baby. I used some darling fabric from Sarah Jane for the first time too. It is from her Children at Play line and I am in love!

I couldn't stop with just one project in Sarah Jane fabric so I started a quilt for my oldest out of some Out to Sea fabric inspired by a quilt and tutorial by Rita from Red Pepper Quilts... here is a sneak peek from my Instagram.... I am slightly obsessed with these mermaids, girly pirates, whales, and ships- you know I have a flair for anything nautical! I have the quilt top finished and am working on the quilting today... Stay tuned!

I hope you are all having a great week!! xoxo, Ashley

P.S. For anyone that loves to sew- I am a judge of the awesome SEWVIVIOR sewing competition over at Family Ever After! The auditions started yesterday so head over and audition to be in the competition and win some awesome prizes! I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!!

Scrappy Spools Quilt

2013-02-04T12:31:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite things in the world, is giving handmade gifts. I have always loved it, but even more so since I started sewing. Last year, I made quilts for almost all of my siblings (still working on one more). It was so much fun practicing my quilting skills and learning new things along the way.

Just after Halloween, I got the opportunity to head to Nashville to pick up my sister who had been serving a mission for our church for the past 18 months. It was the perfect time to take her the quilt I had been working on for her.

I used the Spools quilt pattern by the very talented Camille Roskelley. I loved this pattern so much! It was a lot of fun to piece... I got a little crazy with it and added a scrappy border just for fun.

I used a Moda Sophie layer cake for the "thread" on the spools and the scrappy border and then used some solid and gingham printed linen for the "wooden spools".

I love the way it turned out... but more importantly, my sister loved her quilt too! Job accomplished! ;)

Inspiration Board

2013-02-04T08:00:00.000-05:00

One of the things I love most about the blogging community is getting inspired by others! I am constantly looking at pinterest, instagram, flickr, etc. to find inspiration for things to make and how to make them. I am always creating inspiration boards inside my head or collecting pictures and storing them somewhere for inspiration but my friend Jamielyn at I Heart Naptime took it one step further and created an actual app for making inspiration boards! It is so much fun! It has been in the works for 2 years now and is finally ready to roll- you can check it out HERE.

Here’s one of the inspiration boards that I created! This is a few of the sewing projects that I have worked on the past couple months... There are all kinds of frames, washi tape, tags and backgrounds to pull into your board. Once you have created your inspiration board you can share it on Pinterest, Facebook, Flickr, etc. So fun!

There are fun things going on all week for the launch at I Heart Naptime and she’s giving away a mini ipad, canon rebel, kitchen aid and many other things! Create a board and you can get a chance to win! :)

14 days of Valentines... Love Notes Version

2013-01-26T16:45:00.003-05:00

Spoiler: If your name is Jeff and you happen to by my husband- stop reading!!

I love Valentines day!! I love that it is a holiday celebrating love... and I love that it forces my hubby to do something sweet for me! ;) ha ha

He always gives my girls and I the most thoughtful gifts each year, so last year I decided to do something special for him too... I did the 14 days of Valentines... For each of the 14 days leading up to and including Valentines day I gave him a small gift to remind him just how much I love him. It was so fun to see his excitement each day and he really appreciated the effort I put into it.

Since it was such a hit last year, I decided to do it once again but with a different twist on it. Instead I am doing 14 days of love notes.

I wanted to do something a little more personal than a cheesy tag tied to a gift each morning. Instead, each morning he will find a small gift with a hand written note tied to it. I tried to do things a little more catered to things that he liked instead of trying to find things that I could write something clever with. Since I am totally cheesy, some of the things do have clever/cheesy sayings hand written within the note but I didn't base my purchases on it like I did last year.

A few clever/cheesy things I am doing this year are-

-Grapefruit KISS soda: "Hey Valentine... How about a KISS??"

-Kettle Corn: "This may be "CORNY" but I thought I would "POP" the question: Will you be my Valentine?"

-Cinnamon Lips Gummies: "Hey "HOT LIPS"... Wanna put them to work when you get home?" ;)

-Muddy Buddies Chex Mix: " Hey Valentine, I wanna be more than just "BUDDIES".

-Pair of socks: "Hey Valentine... I think we are a "PERFECT MATCH"!

-Riesen candybar: "Valentine- You are my "Riesen" for living!"

Another cute idea would be to wrap each of the gifts so that your Valentine gets to open on up each morning... I wrapped a couple of my hubby's gifts.

If you want to do the 14 days of Valentines love notes for your Valentine this year- feel free to print out some love note cards.

I am happy to share- all I ask is that you become a follower of my blog somehow before printing.

Via GFC (blue box on my sidebar that says "join this site") , RSS, Facebook or Twitter.

Here is a link to the printable tags- just click the print button (not the share button).

Have a happy day!

Field Study Fever

2013-01-19T11:32:00.002-05:00

I absolutely fell in love with Anna Maria Horner's newest fabric line Field Study the moment I saw it! I love all of the rich, vibrate colors and fun prints. I was so excited to get my hands on it and start working!

Over the weekend, I set out on a quest to make the perfect makeup bag for my little sis to take on her mission for our church. These prints were the perfect thing to use because everything about this fabric totally reminds me of her fun style.

I knew I wanted to do a quilt-as-you-go method like I used on my Quilted Weekender Bag. So I started by creating a rough pattern for the bag and cut out the panels in duck cloth and batting. Then starting adding strips of fabric and quilting with straight lines until the duck cloth panels were completely covered.

For the inside of the bag, I used laminated cotton so that it could be wiped out in case of makeup spills. In the "lid" of the bag, I added some places to store brushes. Once my panel for the makeup brushed was done, I sewed my zipper into the correct panels and then assembled the bag.

And of course I had to had a little "Made with Love" tag to finish it off. I got my tags from Lilla Lotta on Etsy. They are printed on cotton twill tape and I love the personal touch they add to my projects! My sister absolutely loved it! Job accomplished! :)

After I was done with the bag, I started a new quilt... Over the Christmas break I noticed a crazy spur of the moment quilt along pop up on Instagram and I couldn't help but join in on the Scrappy Trip Along! There is a great tutorial for the blocks here. There is a big group pool on Flickr and if you look up #scrappytripalong on instagram you will find a tons of yummy scrappy pictures there too.

So far I only have 6 blocks done, but they are so quick and easy to put together! Probably the quickest quilt I have made so far.. I have big plans for making lots more this weekend so I will keep you posted on my progress. This is my first quilt along to follow along with and I am having lots of fun watching what everyone else makes. I just need to decide how big I want to make mine! Lap sized or queen sized for my bed... We will see how long I last! :)

I love everyones totally scrappy versions, but for some reason I can't bring myself to go totally random scrappy. I have to have some thread in each block that ties to the next so I decided to use the spotted in a crowd elizabeth blue on each diagonal so I can connect the blocks in some design at the end. I may have to get y'alls opinions for layouts when I get a bit further so stay tuned! :)

Have a great weekend!

Happy 2013!!

2013-01-09T16:57:00.000-05:00

1- Little Miss Priss Skirt, 2- 14 Days of Valentines, 3- Tied with a Bow Carseat Canopy, 4- Mini Messenger Bag, 5- Salt Air Lattice Quilt, 6- Vintage Lace Pillowcase, 7- Zig Zag Quilt Along, 8- Vintage Modern Baby Quilt, 9- Kitschy Kids Apron, 10- Sweet Life Quilt, 11- Circus Quilt, 12- Bedroom Makeover, 13- Dolly Quilt, 14- Sewing Storage, 15- Quilted Weekender Bag, 16- Ahoy Matey Quilt, 17- Kindle Case, 18- Little House Zipper Pouch, 19- Isosceles Triangle Quilt Along

Happy New Year everyone! I know that I am a week or so late, but I thought I would do the famous "last year round up" anyways!

Last year was a really crazy year for my family. I lost my brother at the end of February and the rest of the year was spent in a whirlwind of grieving and just trying to take things one day at a time. It is so cray how one person missing in your life can change everything.

One thing that did help me stay grounded was this blog. Having a creative outlet is so important to me. Sewing was so soothing and healing when times got rough or emotions were high. And having you readers help to brighten my day with a sweet comment, a "like" on Facebook, or a pin on Pinterest meant the world to me! So thank you to everyone that has helped me through this last year- friends, family, readers, bloggers, etc. I love you all and am so grateful to "know you"!

Here is to an awesome year!

Printable Christmas Gift Tags 2012

2012-12-20T22:59:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! Are y'all ready for Christmas yet??

It's just around the corner and will be here before we know it!!! I am just about done with my preparations, but I am still finishing up a few loose ends here and there.

I spent all morning and afternoon helping my mom wrap all of her gifts for our entire family... I love to wrap presents but it can also be a huge undertaking so I thought I would help you guys out with some easy printable gift tags.

To print them, all you need to do is become a follower of my blog first and then click on this link and hit the printer button to print!

Here is a link to the printable tags that I made last year... there a a bunch with different colors and designs so feel free to use any and all that you would like!

ENJOY! Hope this helps to ease a bit of the hustle and bustle that takes over at this time of the year!! :)

Take care and enjoy the season! Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year too! I will see ya back here in 2013! :)

xoxo, Ashley

Isosceles Triangle Quilt Along- Making the Quilt

2012-12-05T02:03:00.000-05:00

Hey everyone! Are y'all ready to get quilt making? Hope so! I decided to go ahead and combine all of the directions into one post so that everyone can move at their own pace and take things as fast or slow as they would like.

How was the fabric shopping? Did you get all of the supplies needed to make the quilt?

Step 1: Cutting your fabric. You will need to cut your fabric into strips that are 6" x WOF (width of fabric) so if you are using fat quarters you will have 3 strips that are 6"x22", if you are using half yards you will have 3 strips that are 6"x44", etc. Then you can start cutting the triangles.

To cut your triangles, you will use your template (I used the Quilt Sense Kaleidoscope Triangle Ruler). Line the ruler up on the 11" block mark and start cutting triangles by flipping the ruler up and then flipping it down across the fabric and cutting back and forth until you have all of your triangles cut- both your neutral and patterned triangles.

If you are making your quilt identical to mine, you will need 156 neutral fabric triangles and 156 patterned fabric triangles.

Once your triangles are all cut out, you can lay them out in the pattern that you would like. Once you have your quilt top all laid out how you would like, gather up the fabric and keep separated into piles for each row. I like to place labeled post-it notes in between my piles of each row to keep them separated. Now you are ready to start piecing.

Step 2: Piecing the quilt top. Ok... to start- I just wanted to mention again that I recommend using a scant 1/4 inch seam to make sure that seams will lines up correctly. I started my quilt using my 1/4 inch presser foot and realized once I started sewing my rows together that my seam allowance was slightly over 1/4 inch and it really threw things off... So don't do what I did!! :)

For piecing, I used a couple of extra triangles and kinda played around with sewing them together to get the hang of sewing with isosceles triangles. It's not tricky- just different than what I am used to. So if you are nervous to do it- try it out with some extras and get a feel for it before you start your quilt top.

Lay your triangles right sides together and offset them by 1/4 inch (just like when sewing bias binding together) and then sew together with scant 1/4 inch seam.

When you open them up, they should look like this.

Next add another triangle. Stagger by 1/4 (you can tell when it is lined up perfectly because the top points of the triangles will match up.) and then sew with scant 1/4 inch seam. Open up, add each triangle once at a time until you have a row complete. Then move onto the next row.

-One thing to think about as you are piecing is that you will need to nest seams to make sure that things line up and go together well. So as you are sewing row one, have the seam allowance point towards the left each time you add another triangle. Then with row two, have the seam allowance pointed towards the right as you add each triangle and so forth with each row so that when it comes time to press the seams, they will already have a tendency to go in the direction that you are wanting them to.

Once all of your rows are pieced, press each row and the seam allowances in the direction that they need to go. This is where the spray starch comes in! The starch helps to keep those seams allowances behaving while you do your pinning and sewing.

Now you are ready to start sewing your rows together. Pin a row #1 right sides together with row #2. Make sure that when you are pinning that your triangles are going in the correct direction. With the seam allowances going in opposite directions the seams should nest together nicely and you will be able to line up the triangles nice and neat. Once your row is pinned, sew together with the same seam allowance. Add row by row until you have your entire quilt top completed. Now use the spray starch and press the newly sewn seams... I did not press them open, I pressed them all in one direction.

The edge of your quilt should be a nice and zig-zagged now.

Measure your top and find out how much yardage you will need for your backing and how much backing you will need as well.

Step #3: Piecing your quilt back. For mine I ended up using 4 yards of fabric even though I could have gotten away with 3 1/2. The reason being that I wanted the pattern on my backing to run up and down as opposed to side to side.

So even though I had a lot of extra that I had to cut off on the sides, I was ok with that so that my fabric pattern went up and down instead of side to side.

Once your quilt backing is ready to roll, press well and get things ready to make your quilt sandwich. I am not going to go into directions for creating a quilt sandwich, but if you need a little more direction of what to do with that, here is a great post with directions...

Once you have your quilt sandwich then you are ready to start quilting. Like I mentioned in my first post, I used my walking foot and straight line quilted along each seam.

Once you are done quilting, you can either square off your quilt top and cut the zig-zagged edges off or leave them be like I did for mine.

Now you are ready for binding. I did not use bias binding for my quilt, but if you are doing the zig zag edge like I did I would recommend doing bias binding for yours so it bends and moves around the points nicely. Here is a great tutorial on how to make and use bias binding.

Once I had my binding made and pressed, I pinned and sewed it to my quilt front and then hand stitched it to the back of my quilt. I just worked the binding in place on the back and treated each point as a corner and finished off the points just like I usually do on the corners of my quilts.

It took a lot more time that regular straight edge binding, but I feel like the end result was very worth the extra time. I love how it turned out!

Well there you have it! Your very own isosceles triangle quilt!

Thanks for quilting along! Be sure to email me a picture and link of your finished quilt when you are all done! Maybe if we get enough I can do a round up post of all your quilts! Also- let me know if you have any questions- just leave a comment and be sure to leave your email so I can get back to you.

Last but not least, I just wanted to give a big shout out to my sponsor for the quilt along- Riley Blake Designs.

site...blog...facebook...twitter...pinterest

Isosceles Triangle Quilt Along... the supplies.

2012-11-28T00:59:00.003-05:00

Since I started quilting, I have been wanting to make a Christmas quilt to snuggle with during the Christmas season. I finally checked it off my to-do list and this lovely quilt has found it's home on my couch next to the Christmas tree... I am loving it! It's the perfect size for my littles to snuggle with and maneuver around, but it is big enough for an adult to use as well.

I fell in love with and was totally inspired by Amy's Kitschy Christmas quilt. I love how vintage and retro her quilt is! I may have to make another next year and go for more of a retro feel.

I made mine using Riley Blake fabrics... I used two different lines... The majority is from Alpine Wonderland line and I also threw in two prints from the Marguerite line (red polka dot and the pink stripe). I wanted to go for a slightly girly feel to this quilt since I have two little girls... And I love that if I really wanted to I could use it if I want during the year since it is not totally Christmas-y looking.

Instead of trimming off the excess from the triangles and squaring off my quilt, I decided to try something new and left the zig zag edge. I love how it turned out! Just something different.

I used the Alpine Wonderland Main in blue for my backing and love how it turned out. The print is so big and fun. I took care to piece it together carefully so as not to see the seam in the backing and it turned out great.

I contemplated hand quilting this one... and honestly I think it would have turned out really awesome if I had done that, but in the end, I opted to finish this quilt before Christmas instead of after and machine quilted 1/4 inch from every seam. I think it turned out pretty good. I love the straight lines and the design on the back looks really cool.

I thought it would be fun to do a quilt along for anyone that wants to make an isosceles triangle quilt- Christmas themed or not....

Anyone in the quilt along mood?? I hope so! :)

Supplies:

-rotary cutter and mat

-thread

-scissors

-iron and spray starch (totally a must for this quilt)

-For cutting my fabric into triangles, I used the Quilt Sense Kaleidoscope Triangle Ruler. I picked mine up at Joann's and was able to use a coupon to get it for pretty inexpensive.

(image source)

It is super easy to use- I just cut my fabric into 6 inch strips and then lined up the template on the 11" block line to cut my triangles... They are 45 degree triangles that measured 6" tall and 5 1/4 " on the base of the triangle- so if you wanted to make your own template than that would probably work ok too.

-instead of giving you specific yardage, I am going to let you know how I made mine and give you some options. You can make this quilt with scraps, fat quarters, 1/4 yards, 1/2 yards, etc. The options are endless.

I started with an Alpine Wonderland Fat Quarter bundle, and then added some yardage of the red polka dot and pink striped Marguerite fabric to compile my 156 prints/colored triangles.

Then I used 2 yards of Riley Blake Clean White yardage for the 156 white triangles.

My quilt consisted of 156 colored triangles and 156 white triangles. The quilt measures roughly 50 x 63 inches. I say roughly because when I was making it, I realized halfway through that my new 1/4 inch seam piecing foot is slightly over 1/4 inch... So it kinda threw my seams off a bit... once I had pieced the triangles into rows, when it came time to sew the rows together I ended up having to use 1/2 seam allowance to compensate for the mistake in the seam allowance... So if you decide to make this- I definitely recommend using a scant 1/4 inch seam when piecing to make sure things line up perfectly- and then I think your quilt would measure slightly bigger... So this is gonna kinda be one of those do as I say, not as I do quilt alongs! But hey... I figured out all of the ways to do it wrong, so now you don't have to do any of that... you can just start out doing it correctly! :)

Ok... Like I said, I used a fat quarter bundle and some various yardage for my quilt top, so I will just let you know how many triangles you can get out of different cuts of fabric and then you can decide what cuts you want to use.

Fat Quarter: 18 triangles

(beware when using fat quarters... they have to be exactly 18x22 inches to get 18 triangles out of it- in my case, a handful of my fat quarters were smaller and I was not able to get the full amount of triangles cut out of them)

1/4 yard or 6" x Width of fabric: 14 triangles

1/2 yard: 42 triangles

Just something to think about- After I had my quilt all finished, I realized that since I used an even number of triangles across the quilt, I ended up with a kinda funky shape of quilt. Meaning- on the top left of the quilt there is a white triangle so it zags out but then on the top right of the quilt there is a colored triangle so it zags in. It's no big deal, but makes it kinda tricky when folding it since the top corners are not symmetrical. So if I were to make it again, I would probably do my quilt 25 triangles wide instead of 24 so that it was symmetrical. I am just kinda weird like that though, so if that doesn't bug you then go ahead and do 24 triangles wide like I did.

Like I said, if you are following my layout, you will need 156 colored triangles so calculate how much yardage you will need depending on if you are using fat quarters vs. 1/2 yard cuts, etc.

Then you will need 2 yards of a solid/neutral fabric.

If you are wanting to make your quilt smaller or bigger than mine, just figure out how many triangles you want and calculate how much fabric you need to buy.

-1/2 yard to 3/4 yard for binding... just depending on if you decided to do the zig zag edge like I did or square your edge and do straight edge binding.

As for the batting and backing since my seam allowances were messed up when piecing my top, I recommend finishing your quilt top and then purchasing those two items after you have a final measurement so that you are not buying too much or too little.

I will be posting the directions for cutting your fabric and piecing your quilt top next week so stay tuned!

If you have any questions, leave a comment but be sure to include your email so I can get back to you!

Last but not least, I just wanted to give a big shout out to my sponsor for the quilt along- Riley Blake Designs.

site...blog...facebook...twitter...pinterest

HAVE FUN FABRIC SHOPPING! :)

For directions to make this quilt, click HERE.

Little House Zipper Pouch

2012-11-14T10:04:00.002-05:00

Recently, a bunch of my friends got together to have our annual Favorites Party. Each time we have the party, we each bring one of our very favorite things that cost $5 or less... Last time we had the party, I brought my favorite lip gloss. This time, I wanted to bring something that incorporated my favorite thing to do, so I decided to make something to give away.

While searching Pinterest a bit ago, I came across this darling tutorial for Fabric House Ornaments by Retro Mama and this darling House Sachet by A Spoon Full of Sugar that was inspired by Retro Mama's tutorial. I decided to make my own spin off of the ornaments and made a little house zipper pouch. I didn't follow the tutorial exactly since I made it into a pouch and did a different shape of roof on the house, but the tutorial was a great help for me as far as the actual design elements...

I started by drawing out the shape of my house to make a pattern/template. I cut out two pieces on duck cloth- one for the front and one for the back. Then I just added my pieces of fabric for the front of the house by sewing onto the duck cloth. I left the duck cloth plain for the back. Then I cut out two pieces for the liner of the pouch by using my template. and just put it together as I would a regular pouch- just in a kinda funky shape.

I love the way it turned out. It is just a little thing so it would be perfect to keep in a purse with little things you need to locate easily- ie. Chapstick, lipgloss, bobby pins, etc.

It was definitely a hit at the party- and to be honest, I kinda had a hard time parting with it. ha ha

I think this little house had started to make a nice home on my bookshelf.

Guess I will have to make another... ;)

My Quilted Weekender Bag

2012-11-07T14:50:00.000-05:00

I finished my Quilted Weekender Bag!!! I love the way it turned out. I took it on it's maiden voyage last weekend to Nashville.

I always try to be a light packer and only bring the bare necessities- so it was the perfect size to fit my clothes and makeup in... But the blow dryer and flat iron had to squeeze into my kiddos bag.

My inspiration for the bag was this quilted patchwork Weekender Bag by Elizabeth of Oh, Fransson.

I have heard others call the Weekender Bag the Holy Grail of Bags... I would have to agree. I wouldn't say that it was hard to make- more like tricky... but now that I have made it, any trouble it caused me has long been forgotten due to it's cuteness! ;)

I loved this project because I was able to incorporate all of my favorite fabrics and scraps into one bag. It has all my favorite colors, patterns, etc so it is totally me.

I used a bunch of leftovers from my scrap pile of fabric so I am not sure of the names of all of the fabrics, but the majority of them are from these fabric lines: Vintage Modern, The Simple Life, Annie's Farm Stand, Ruby, and used this Kokka Matryoska Fabric and fussy cut out the flowers and matryoska dolls as accents in the panels. I also fussy cut the sayings "Life is Beautiful" and "I love my family" from the Odds and Ends Happy Thoughts in Rosebud fabric.

I used Oh Deer! Twill Cherry Dot fabric for the handles and piping.

For the lining, I used Moda Made with Love Measuring Tape in Aqua Canvas.

I made a few alterations in the pattern when I was making my bag.

1. I did not use all of the Peltex and interfacing that the pattern called for. Instead I used Elizabeth's method for quilting as you go by layering duck cloth and a thin layer of batting and then quilting my scraps onto that. In the end, My panels were very stiff and held their form without the extra layer of Peltex and interfacing. I did however follow the directions for the base of the bag and did use the interfacing and Peltex for that part. My bag stands up all on it's own and in all of these pictures, nothing is in my bag to hold it's form... It's one of the things I love most about the bag- it's sturdy!

2. The Handles: I made them 8 inches longer than the pattern called for (if I ever make this bag again, I will make them even longer). When I sewed the handles onto the bag, I made an X in between the 9 and 13 inch marks. I also sewed the handles to the panel all the way down underneath the X's so that the handles weren't loose in the pocket.

3. The Outer bottom panel: I made my bottom panel out of oil cloth so that I could wipe it off easily in case I sat it on something dirty. Love this! I don't worry so much about my bag getting filthy on the bottom.

4. The Piping: When I made my piping, I did not sew it like the pattern called for. Instead I used 1/4 inch Steam a Seam tape and then when it came time to attach the piping to the bag, I didn't have to worry about covering up any lines of stitching.

Other than that, I followed the patterns directions and I feel like my bag turned out pretty well...

Can't wait to plan another getaway to use this darling bag! :)

WIP Quilted Patchwork Weekender Bag

2012-10-24T13:28:00.001-04:00

A couple weeks ago, I came across a quilted patchwork Weekender Bag by Elizabeth of Oh, Fransson!

I fell in love with it the minute I saw it and knew that I needed to finally take the plunge and make the notorious Weekender Bag by Amy Butler. This bag is kinda the Holy Grail of bags and definitely has a reputation for being hard to get along with due to all of the layers of peltex, interfacing, cording, etc that are involved when making it.

I have always loved the look of this bag, but the reputation and horror stories had me pretty much sworn off making it, but when I saw Elizabeth's bag and the method that she used to make it by quilting as you go onto cotton duck cloth, I had a change of heart.

Apparently I am not the only one either- from what I have heard of Sewing Summit and seen on a few blogs, it looks like Elizabeth sparked a quilted weekender craze and there is now a quilted weekender bandwagon! Check out these fabulous bags by Laura and Amber!

Two weeks ago, I raided my scrap stash and even dug into a few fabric piles that I had been saving for a rainy day and came up with my color palette- red, aqua, and yellow.

It hasn't been a fast process by any means, I just add a little each night and am finally finished creating my patchwork panels so now I am ready to start assembling my bag now...Duh, duh, duh... I am hoping to make it out in one piece! Wish me luck!

Here is a sneak peak of what the the main and pocket panel are looking like together! I am excited to see it finished!

I plan to finish it over the weekend since I am headed to Nashville next week. This is the perfect bag to take along on my trip! :)

Stay tuned for more pictures to come soon once I finish it!

i {heart} Jo Totes bags

2012-10-23T20:37:00.000-04:00

For the longest time, I have been looking for the perfect solution to my "ugly camera bag" problem. Don't get me wrong, my "ugly camera bag" is nice and has it's own time and season for uses when I need to cart along all of my lenses/gear, but on a whole, I am usually just grabbing my camera with the lens on it and throwing it in a bag and running out the door... or... gasp... leaving the camera home because my purse feels too bulky with it in there. I know- terrible right? But with my fresh perspective on recording our family memories, leaving the camera behind is no longer an option.

While I was at SNAP, I noticed one thing that just about every blogger had- and I didn't... a darling Jo Totes camera bag. I have always wanted one, but after that conference and seeing how versatile each and every Jo Totes bag is... I knew I needed one! The thing I love most about them is that they are not just for carrying your camera. There is a spot for an iPad, a wallet, a phone, an extra lens, and any extra things you need on hand! I saw one lady that had one of the larger Jo Totes bags and I felt like I was watching Mary Poppins pulling things out of her carpet bag as I saw the things she was taking out of this bag. Who knew you could fit all of that in, with your camera and still have it safe and padded! I was impressed to say the least!

April from Jo Totes was so nice to send me my own camera bag to see how I liked it. And to be honest, I have taken it everywhere since. It has been so nice not having to worry about my camera being safe in my bag or forgetting my camera as I ran out the door.

I picked out such a fun bag. It is their newest bag available called the Allison Bag.

With my love of anything mustard yellow, I was of course drawn to the mustard version... but, just to throw myself for a loop, I went with the teal to change it up a little. I am so glad I did. I love the color of it. It looks even better in real life that it does in the pictures.

I love the Allison bag because it is one of the smaller bags. I just wanted something that would fit the bare necessities and not be too heavy once I got it loaded. It has been so perfect for my needs! I wouldn't change a thing about it. I love that it doesn't look like a camera bag. I love that it has a zipper at the top and no flap covering it- easy access to my camera. I love the magnetic clasp pocket on the front to put my keys and phone in. But most of all, I love the adjustable velcro pads on the inside of the bag so I can adjust where my camera fits in and keep it nice and protected but also fit other things if needed too.

There are so many to bags to choose from in all shapes, sizes, and colors... Some of my other favorites are the Betsy Bag

and the Millie Bag...

...but of course the Allison won me over. I had a tough time choosing between all three bags since they are each so cute and different. Just when I think they can't come out with a cuter bag, they do, so I love to follow along with their Facebook page to keep up to date with new arrivals and all of the giveaways that they have.

So if you are like me and in the market for a pretty camera bag- check these Jo Totes beauties out! You won't be disappointed! :)

(Full Disclosure: I was provided with one Allison bag to review. I was not compensated with money to write this post. All opinions are my own.)

Ahoy Matey Quilt

2012-10-18T08:00:00.000-04:00

With me having little girls, it's pretty rare to see me sewing for a little boy... but one of my friends just had her very first baby boy last week and I couldn't resist making the new little guy a quilt.

I can't even tell you how much I love this Ahoy Matey fabric by Michael Miller . When I saw that it had a panel and that it was so darling, I knew that I wanted to try making a quilt using a panel. Usually I am not a huge fan of panel quilts, but this one may have changed my mind.

To make it, I used one panel (which is the main part of the quilt with the ship and waves on it), and then I used the Navy Stay the Course fabric for the side sashing, and Dumb Dot in Clementine for the prairie points, Clementine Ship Shape for the binding, and then Quarter Dot in Midnight for the backing.

I have been wanting to try doing prairie points on a quilt and I felt like this was the perfect quilt for it. I found an awesome tutorial for continuous prairie points on Sew Take a Hike. It was such an easy tutorial to follow! Love how they turned out!

As soon as I saw the panel for this quilt, I knew that I wanted to hand stitch along the outlines of everything. I love the way it looks around the waves, clouds, and boat. Once I washed it and dried it, oh my goodness!! I was in love... it was a tad bit hard to part with this lovely quilt. ha ha

But lucky me... I happened to buy two panels and have just enough leftover fabric to make myself this exact quilt- should a little bundle of blue pop up into my future.... And if not, I am sure I can find a loving home for such a darling little quilt- don't ya think? :)

Happy Sailing!

xoxo, Ashley

My fresh start to archiving our family memories.... Plus a giveaway!

2012-10-17T11:56:00.004-04:00

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

I have had a few people ask if there has ever been any regrets since starting this lovely little space that I like to call "home" in Blogland and I my answer has always been a big, fat, huge "YES!"

I stopped posting on our family blog when I started this blog.

Up until starting my Mommy by day- Crafter by night, I was so diligent at posting a few times per week on our family blog, with big plans to have my blog printed into books to have for our family.
To be honest, with all of the time that I put into this blog and time spent of the computer, the last thing I wanna do with any spare time is spend more time on the computer loading pictures and writing up more posts... so I just quit worrying about it. I know that I could have been doing other things to record memories like writing in my journal or scrapbooking, but once I got a little behind, it seemed too overwhelming to try and catch up. One thing led to another and I found myself over a year and a half behind and feeling guilty as heck that my "craft blog" had taken precedence over my duty as "Family Archivist". ;)

The guilt has eaten away at me little by little until I finally decided to do something about it.

A few months ago I was telling my friend about my current situation and guilt at failing in the "recording my kids life" category. She listened to everything I had to say- excuses and all- and said "Hang on... I think I have the solution for you!" She left the room and came back a minute later holding a book/binder. She spent the next 30 minutes showing and telling me about her method of recording memories and storing family photos: PROJECT LIFE. I was amazed at how easy it seemed and started feeling an inkling of HOPE at somehow being able to get back on top of everything.

I came home and started doing some of my own research on Project Life. I was so excited to find out that the woman behind the genius, was none other than THE Becky Higgins- someone who I have been a huge fan of ever since I started scrapbooking years ago. The more I read about Project Life, the more I was convinced that it was the perfect system for me and my needs.

As you guys know, I try to keep my blog free of product reviews unless it is a product that I really feel passionate about. I had a feeling that Project Life was something that was manageable enough for me and that would also take away the guilt that I was feeling over memory keeping. So I contacted the Project Life team and begged them to let me review Project Life to see how I liked it. To my excitement they agreed and kindly sent me the three things I needed to get started on my own project life journey:

A binder, a core kit, and page protectors.

No more spending hundreds of dollars on paper, stickers, glue, etc... All you need to do this is are a few things.

And even better- these few things are what make up an entire year worth of memory keeping!

If you have never heard of Project Life or are not sure how it works- here is a little video that explains the system...

What is Project Life? from Becky Higgins LLC on Vimeo.

I ended up choosing the Amber Edition. Since getting the Amber edition, my mom in law gave me the Clementine Edition for my birthday- so now I have two albums. One to work of for the current year and one to start making up for last year.

Once I received my album and supplies, I headed over and checked out the "Getting Started" page on Becky's website... It was perfect and explained exactly what I needed to do to start my album...

Last weekend, I sat down for the very first time doing Project Life... I had 200 photos and whipped out over 4 months worth of memories in just a handful of hours. I can not tell you how awesome it felt to be able to get that much done in so little time. I used to spend countless hours perfecting one page at a time, and although it is fun looking back at all of the details and work I put into my scrapbooking, I no longer have that much spare time. So for me and my busy life, this is the perfect way for me to record memories quickly and even as memories are happening.

I read a post by Becky on her blog a while ago, and she mentioned that she carries around a box of 3x4 inch cards in her purse and she pulls them out and writes on them while she was out and about and then later adds them to her album... Such a great idea! I ordered some cards and plan to do the same. So many times, my kids say things and I think to myself "I will write that down when I get home" and then I get home and can not remember what in the world it was that they had said! No more excuses now!

Here are the things that I like to use in addition when putting together my book:

A Crop-A-Dile 3/8 corner punch (which is the same radius as the project life cards) and American Crafts Precision Pens.

I just crop the corners of the pictures, put them into the book, and then write on the cards and stick them in and I am done! So easy and so fast. And although my handwriting isn't always perfect, I kinda like that extra personal touch that it is my handwriting on the cards.

Recently, Becky announced some new editions editions of project life that are going to be coming out at the end of the year... There are baby editions, childhood editions, the Seafoam Edition, and brace yourselves fellow fabric lovers... Heather Bailey designed a core kit and it is called the Olive Edition... Oh my goodness! I love it! It will be released in late December... I think I may just have to buy myself a Christmas present! I can not wait to get my hands on that edition! So cute!!

So for anyone out there that is passionate about keeping track of pictures and family memories- check out Project Life... It is the perfect place to start if you are wanting to start recording life's happenings, need to get caught up on past life happenings, or whatever your circumstance may be. It is so user friendly- there is no wrong or right way to Project Life.

Now for the exciting part....

Becky Higgins is going to be giving away a Project Life Binder, the coordinating Core Kit, and a Big Pack of Design A Photo Pocket Pages to one lucky Mommy by day- Crafter by night reader!!!

The winner will get to choose which edition they receive- either the Turquoise, Clementine, Cherry, Amber, or Cobalt Edition.

All you have to do to enter is:

1. Be a follower of Mommy by day... Crafter by night. (via GFC, RSS, or by email)

2. Leave one comment with your name and email so I can contact you if you win.

This giveaway is open to US residents only. Winner will be selected at random via random.org & notified by email. Winner will be announced on Oct. 23, 2012. You must be 18 years or older to enter this giveaway. The chances of winning depend on the number of entries. Good luck!

(Full Disclosure: I was provided with one binder, one core kit, and one big pack of page protectors from Project Life to review. I was not compensated with any money to write this post. All opinions are my own.)

Work In Progress Finished... well... almost!

2012-10-10T13:21:00.003-04:00

Remember the WIP {work in progress} that I shared with you guys FOREVER ago?? I finally finished it. Well kinda- I have just a tiny bit more hand quilting to do on two blocks, but it has been bound and in use for the past month on my littlest's toddler bed (which is why it is so narrow and long). I am not sure why I can't make myself sit down and finish it. It would take all of 30 minutes or so, but you know how things go... other projects take priority and things get put on the back burner. So alas, this little gem has been a bit abandoned but perhaps an afternoon during nap time will be enough to get her finished...

But until that happens, I thought I would show her off to you guys.

What do you think? It was my very first time paper piecing and my first time making dresdens and I kinda loved it. It was definitely the most time consuming and labor intensive quilt I have ever made, but I still really enjoyed it. I was inspired by Kerri's vintage nursery quilt and decided to add in the dresdens to make my quilt a little different.

Almost all of the fabrics I used were japanese import goodies (most from Lecien's Old new 30's line) that I found in Kerri's shop. She has the cutest fabric and I loved picking and choosing out fabrics in soft pinks, aquas, and a tiny bits of yellow for this quilt. It almost a bit monochromatic to my eyes since I stuck with just a few shades of colors, which isn't normally my style, but I love the way it is totally matchy matchy and shabby chic looking.

For the center of my paper pieced blocks, I used prints from the Sweet Life fabric I picked out. Since it is a Japanese import, some of the sayings on the fabric is so funny and isn't always grammatically correct- for instance, there is a block that says "I'm now cleaning a living" and "Let me give you hand".

I think the saying on this block had to be my very favorite- "You look spruce. Are you going on a date today?" ha ha My family says it all the time now and it makes me laugh every time!

I started machine quilting the quilt initially and had machine quilted around the edged of each block, but I decided to hand quilt the rest of the quilt instead of finishing it on the machine... which added to the time and labor intensiveness, but I love the look of it and think it adds to the vintage look and feel of the quilt. I used a pale pink DMC pearl cotton 8 thread for the hand quilted part.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you are all having a fabulous week!

Happy Sewing!

xoxo, Ashley