Riley Blake Block of the Month-February

February's block is a paper pieced heart.

I have only done one paper pieced before, my dots on dots block.

I have a simple tutorial here.

I cut the heart along the dark lines, there were six numbered sections.  I set the stitch length really short on my machine.

You sew fabric 1 to fabric 2 and sew the fabric right through the paper.  Then add number 3, and so on.

Here are all 6 completed sections.

I'm sewing the different sections together.

All of the sections are sewn together and it's time to tear off the paper.

The stitch length was so small or close together, that it perforated the paper making it very easy to tear.

The paper's all torn off but it sure doesn't look like a heart!

Notice how there is a seem going down the middle and another going across the middle.

I took my 13" square base fabric and traced the heart template with pencil.  Then I trimmed l/4" away inside the heart.

The pencil line is the stitching line.

I will place the patchwork fabric under the heart opening and applique with the needle turn method.

I attached the heart opening onto the fabric with applique glue (Roxanne's glue baste).  I have my straw needles, cotton thread and needle threader, all tools of the trade :)

Do you see the fabric underneath the pink fabric? 

I won't trim it until I have finished appliqueing.

Straw needles are great for applique, but the eye is so teeny weeny that a fancy needle threader is a necessity, even for the best eyes!

I finished the needle turn applique and trimmed the fabric underneath so that only the l/4" seam allowance is visible.  

This seam disappears when the batting and backing are added.

I love my pink heart!  I know that it's a lot of pink.....I am thinking about introducing a new color in the sashing.

Here are January and February's blocks, I'm anxious to see what the  March block will be.

Riley Blake Design Block of the Month-January

I've decided to join the RBD  block of the month.

I just couldn't resist!!

This is the color family I'm going to use, PINK!

I cut out all my squares for January's block.

I drew the lines on all the squares to make half square triangles.

I'm making progress :)

I squared off all of the little blocks.

That's a lot of half square triangles!

Arrange them all in a certain order and.....a Chevron block is born.  The Chevron block didn't take very long to make.

This block of the month really appeals to me because there are only nine 12" blocks. 
 I know I can do that :)

Spools

This is Row 11 of Lori's Bee in my Bonnet Quilt Along.

Spools of thread, all in a row!

These are the fabrics I chose to create each little spool.

I really liked the gray Lori used for her spools, I was really tempted to do the same. 

Instead, I thought I would stick with off white, simply because I used the same color for my apple cores which you can see here.

The fabric I used for the spools has text on it.

This was probably the fastest row to cut and sew so far :)

I had to show you this aqua spool close up.

Doesn't it look like thread wound around the spool?

Here are all 14 spools.

Here are all my rows on my "faux" design wall.

A fancy way to say they are all taped to the wall.

Little Girl's Purse

Isn't this little purse the cutest?  

My friend Joni gave me five of them, for my grand daughters.

I forgot to take a photo of the back, it has a little patch pocket with two rhinestones on the corners.

The purse zips closed at the top of the waistband.

There are so many ways to decorate this little purse.

I glued rhinestones down the front.

Each one has its own personality :)

I made two pink ones.

I filled the purses with goodies and lots of love and Valentines!

These purses could be made from a pair of child's jeans too.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Valentine's Day!

For more Valentine ideas, look at my "Be my Valentine" board on Pinterest.

Adoption Fundraiser

My sweet friend (I call her my fourth daughter because that's how I feel) is in the process of adopting a sweet little girl.

Lois' blog is on my sidebar,

She can sure use your help, this is her dilemna:

Dear Family and Friends, 

We first want to say Thank You for your support this year! Our family and friends have created a wonderful blog for us 

www.halesadopt.blogspot.com

to raise money to adopt our sweet little girl. Unfortunately to keep her safe and healthy, we had to hire a private attorney to fight the State. It worked, but for the adoption to be final, all the fees must be paid. Lois' friend Aimee created 4 beautiful prints that you pay $10 for and print right from your computer.  Please visit the blog, read our story and then share this email with friends. 

Thank you so much! 

Doug and Lois Hale 

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Faux Makeup for Toddlers

I have a drawer full of eye shadow samples that I've received in promotions.  I never like the color, so I don't use it....

I found a clever way of repurposing them.

The eye shadow on the left still has the eye shadow in their compartments.  

The eye shadows have been removed on the others.

I just took a metal nail file and wedged the metal eyeshadow holders out of their plastic case.

See how they are all empty?

I bought the prettiest colors of nail polish at the dollar store.

I just poured the nail polish into the containers.

It takes about 24 hours to dry.

These photos were taken right after I poured the nail polish into the containers.

This photo was taken when the nail polish was dry.

Do you notice how much it shrank?

I have to pour more nail polish in to fill in the gap.

I usually repeat the process three times, letting the polish dry between applications.

The process takes about four days, so don't be in a hurry.

I bought new wand applicators at Target for $2.

Now your toddler can put makeup on all day long and not make a mess :)

Hope you liked the idea!