Embroidered Mini Quilt

I love embroidery, and was asked to do a swap with a friend on Instagram.

Her name is Leanne and she lives in Tasmania, Australia.

This is her blog, Lizzie the quilter., she blogged about the mini quilt I made for her.

The embroidery is by Sarah Jane, I bought the pattern and used my own colors.

I embroidered in the car on one of our road trips :)

I chose a white printed quilt cotton to use as a base for the embroidery.

I have a thing for detail, I love it!

I have a box of little l l/2" squares that I've been collecting from my scraps.

I used the prettiest, brightest, happiest colors I could find.

I love pinwheels too, so I used a lot of those.

More little squares in deliciously cheerful colors and prints!

Excuse my stained ironing board cover, it's from the spray starch (Mary Ellen's starch press) that I use on my blocks.

Cute little pinwheels, I love them!

I enjoy designing quilts, I always feel a great sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.

This little quilt measures approximately 16" X 24".

It's so feminine, and I had a really difficult time giving it away :)

I contemplated long and hard, about what color to use for the binding.

I always like the binding to pop, and with so many pretty colors, I thought that black would do the job.

I really like the effect.

I used a jigsaw quilt pattern for the machine quilting, and tried to make it as small as I could, to match the teeny measurements of the quilt.

I used a yellow Tanya Whelan print for the back.

I wanted the little embroidered girl to stand out, so I machine stitched pebble quilting around her.

She is smelling a bouquet of flowers, and Leanne loves flowers!

Check out her blog, she has a genuine green thumb :)

I hope you like the mini quilt I designed as much as I do.

Sew Together Bag - Thimbleblossoms

I made another sew together bag for my friend, for her birthday :)

My friend is an author and a playwright, so the typewriter is meaningful!

My friend always lets her light shine wherever she goes and with whomever she meets.

She was so warm and pleasant and friendly when I first met her, over 4 years ago, for the first time.

I'll never forget how thoughtful she was to me, when I first moved to California and didn't know anyone.

She treated me like a long, lost friend and I really needed that.

My friend is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, just like me!

I looked all over the internet until I found a cute zipper pull of the Salt Lake temple.

I loved making this bag for my friend, she's always so happy and so thankful!

My friend's name is Joni Hilton, and you can read her blog here, it's called Joniopolis.

Joni has a great sense of humor :)

This bag is a little difficult to make when it comes to attaching the sides, that's probably the hardest part.

The best part is choosing the fabrics and the zipper colors.

I chose Thimbleblossom fabric, because Joni loves turquoise and these are such vibrant colors, just like Joni's personality.

Each of the 3 zipper pockets has a houndstooth print, matching the colors of the zipper.

The sections between the zipper pockets are pretty roomy.

I thought of Joni the whole time I made this bag, and I knew she would love it.

I was right, Joni was so complimentary and looked at every single compartment of the bag with great care, and kept thanking me and making a fuss.

Who wouldn't want to make a sew together bag for such an appreciative person?

The bottom of the bag has a pretty print, and you can see my machine quilting in this photo.

I love making time consuming gifts for people who treasure them.

I'm so blessed to have such a good friend :)

Joni is also called the You Tube Mom.

She made all sorts of short videos showing how to do really useful things, I've learned a lot from watching them.

You can see them here.

Snapshots QAL

I love the Snapshots Quilt Along, designed by Bonnie and Camille, and sponsored by the Fat Quarter Shop!

They suggest you make a donation to the St. Jude foundation.

This is Block #7, Up Up and Away!

This is definitely NOT a snapshot of my life, as I will not be caught dead in a hot air balloon!!!

I sure enjoy watching them in the sky though, some are really colorful :)

On the other hand, I really love my bicycle :)

I patterned this one after my beach cruiser, which is green with orange rims, and a cute wicker basket in the front.

I went on a trail with my son a few years ago when we lived in Florida.
It was a mountain bike trail and it was so bumpy, that the screws that held the basket to my handlebars completely rattled off!
That was a memorable ride as a huge storm rolled in and we were soaked to the skin in seconds.  LOL

Aren't the pinwheel flowers happy, coming out of the basket?

I've been using all of Bonnie and Camille's fabrics for these blocks, instead of Daysail which the pattern suggests.
It's really fun choosing colors and prints.

In the middle of the camera, is a print from Lori Holt's "Modern Mini" collection.
It's perfect, isn't it?

This camera is huge and will go on the back of the quilt. 

I have a Pinterest board where you can find all the blocks.

Sondra Davison from "Out of the Blue Quilts" has designed each block in a mini and they are all on my Pinterest board too.

See you next week :)

Quilty Fun Birthday Cake Banners

I've been baking so many cakes, that I've become a little distracted..

I showed these two quilty fun birthday cakes to 4 of my friends, including my husband, and no one ever noticed.  
I noticed when I was just about done with the machine quilting.

Can you see anything wrong with these cakes?

I take such great care, choosing colors and prints that will match the personality and likes of the recipient.

Kennedy wanted a lemon cake, and I added strawberry icing.

Lindsay just wanted a pretty cake, I really love these colors!

I know that Lindsay loves Jadeite cake pedestals, so voila!!!

Have you noticed anything wrong yet?

I told Kennedy and Lindsay that I would bake some more cakes, but they said no, they liked them just the way they are :)

I'm not done yet, still have more cakes to bake :)

...and another!

I'm losing my head with these cakes, I forgot to take a photo of these cake banners, quilted and bound.

I love Lucy Jane's name, so I tried really hard to fit her whole name on the banner.

I don't know which border I like better, a colorful one, or a "sprinkles" one.

Benjamin wil be 3 years old this week.

I made him a blueberry cake, and the bow on the pedestal, has cars on it.

I hope you've enjoyed all the cakes I've been baking.

I still have many more to go :)

Originally, I was making the cakes just for my grandchildren, but all my daughters and daughters in law want one too.

That's okay, because I love making them things.
We live a day's drive from each other, so I think a lot about them when I sew for them :)

Have a great week!

Farm Girl Vintage - Weeks 13 and 14

I've been trying to keep up with my Farm Girl Vintage blocks.

When I make the 6" block, I try to use mostly Lori Holt fabrics.

This is a 6" Old Red Barn block.

Old Glory, I made one in both 6" and 12" sizes, but as you can see, I didn't use Lori's fabrics, there weren't really enough blues in the shades that I wanted.

Both blocks are really similar, but they'll be in separate quilts, so it really doesn't matter :)

Mama Hen with a Simple Star.

I love the brilliance of the aqua fabric, and I also love pink and orange together!

I'm really proud of her little pink beak too :)

This is a 6" block.
You can tell, because I used most of Lori's fabrics.

I'm not crazy about sewing 6" blocks though, because they are more difficult, with all the little pieces.

I love the Milking Day block, I think it's the first one I made out of the book.

My daughter belongs to a milking coop.  

Fourteen people have a share in a cow (her name is Patience) and each of them has a designated morning or evening to milk it every week.
There's a photo of me milking Patience here.

A genuine milking can is pretty expensive too!

My daughter now has chickens....

 ...and goats for milking.

I'm going to make her one of the Farm Girl Vintage quilts, I think she'll appreciate it :)

By the way, that's Maisie, aka Queen Elsa, who I made the dress for in last week's blog.

Elsa's dress

I made my granddaughter Maisie who was turning 5 years old, an Elsa dress.

The dress itself is Michael Miller satin and is so soft and flowy.

I found a beautiful broach that looked like a snowflake, and sewed it onto the front of the dress.

I found a little button for the back, and sewed a loop out of thread.

I also had to buy an Elsa crown :)

Here she is, Queen Elsa!

 Maisie loves her new dress and when she goes outside, she hikes the hem up so it doesn't touch the ground, just like a real queen :)

Sew Together Bag - Millie's Closet

I made another Sew Together Bag in one of Lori Holt's fabric lines by Riley Blake, called "Millie's Closet". 

It's a birthday gift for one of my quilty friends, so I love the sayings "Just take one stitch at a time" and "Eat Cake"!

Each side of the bag is a different color.

There are so many color combinations in this line, I couldn't choose just one :)

This bag is a little difficult to sew, but once you've made one or two, they get easier.
The bag is so roomy on the inside with all the different compartments. 

I love this label, "You make me Happy"!

I centered it on the dress, and I love the look.

I color coordinated the pockets with matching zippers.

You can't see it very well, but the center two sections have purse designs.  One is green and the other is red.

I finished it off with a red zipper and a cute zipper pull.

You can see the last sew together bag that I made here.
The color combinations for these bags are endless.
Even though they are very time intensive, I see a lot more of the bags in my future!