Crafty little Sunday

Ellie and Sam have been starting to love doing all things creative. They have started to spend hours playing with playdough, coloring and painting. It has been really fun to watch them grow and see the joy they have when they are flexing their creativity! Of course a added benefit, is while they are creating . . . I am able to have a little fun myself! Today while they colored and had fun with playdough, I quilted a pillow and a holiday stocking. What fun!

Puddle Jumping and the dynamic duo

My baby is turning two . . . he has grown up so fast and is such a sweet little boy.  We have truly been blessed with these two wonderful little people.  Right now Sam is all about the b-ball and being outside.  He cries every day to "pay" "oside".  Today even though it was raining and Ellie was wearing the dress I finished for her last night, I thought why not a little rain never hurt me.  So we did some serious puddle jumping, puddle splashing and there were some denied attempts at puddle drinking.  So fun to be a two year old and live for being outside in the rain.

Miss Ellie raced from puddle to puddle and went wild.  I had the camera out to get a shot of her in the peasant dress I just finished for her.  Even though the weather wasn't exactly summer dress weather, she had to wear it.  The cool thing is she "helped" me make it and understood that the dress was "sew".  She still likes to pretend sew with me on her wooden play machine, broken and all.  I love that she can say "mommy made" "pretty dress" and 

"sew".  What fun to have the photos to look back on of her helping me make her clothes.  I wish I was a better at it, so I could make something for the boys besides blankets/quilts.  Actually I have yet to even do that for Max, I must get back at his baseball quilt . . . stay tuned on that one!

After the jumping they were both splashing around in the puddles!

Much to my disapproval Sam moved the party to the mud and had to have a 9:45 am bath!  Oh well, he had fun!

I guess I will have to try harder to get a good shot of this dress from the front.  I love the Sandi Henderson prints from her Farmer's Market line.  Also how much do we love the pink Roxy boots, I wonder if the hot pink version comes in a size 9?

Pop Garden Coin Quilt - I think I am in LOVE

You know how some things just speak to you. The coin quilt is just the ticket for me. I love the crisp white cotton with bright pops of color. Somehow I think this will be the quilt I am destined to make over and over. As this sewing obsession continues to grow, I find myself jumping from blog to blog inspired by the talented community that shares their brillance through their blogs. The coin quilt fixation came from looking at the Film in the Fridge blog Then I found the Piece-a-long, Coin Quilt group on FLIKR and I was inspired! This weekend I finished piecing the backing strips. I love Heather Bailey's Pop Garden line, I had to put the big strips on the back! I can't wait to finish, it is going to be Fabulous!

My First Finished (needs button) Stitched Bag

Holy Cuteness, I LOVE how this bag came out.  Am I allowed to have so much fun with a new creative outlet.  This is a far cry from the blue and gold quilted gym bag I made in Home Economics . . . I am completely obsessed with fabric and sewing right now.  I just can't resist all the fun fabrics.  I am either buying them at our local quilt store (and new favorite hang-out) K C Custom Fabrics or shopping on ETSY for fabric.  Saturday three packages from Japan arrived with great new fabrics to make baby shoes from.  Steve signed for them and was curious why I had to have fabric from Japan, is it really that different?  20 minutes later and a little show and tell, he now appreciates Japanese fabric!

I have wanted to learn for awhile, but now that Ellie and Sam are almost two and Max is in school all day, I am finding a little time to learn a new skill.  Also my sister's pregnancy got me going.  Since my first lesson in late November I have made three quilts, baby shoes, a patchwork scarf, neck gator, baby doll carrier and this bag.  I have a couple quilts going right now and a huge line-up of projects ready to go.  This is way too much fun!  I guess I should have taken a few classes a long time ago and my previous projects would have looked much better.   

This bag also has inspired me to try my hand at some more hand stitching.  The "garden" in this bag was a lot of fun.  I really liked using the linen and love how it gives the bag a relaxed feeling.   I see a lot of embellishments on the kids clothing, pillow cases and pillows in our future.  When I showed the kids the bag after finishing today, they both tried to pull the buttons off while yelling "pretty" "pretty, mommy pretty"!