Big Girl Bed!

It's good to be back!! Yes it has been a while but lots has been going on! The biggest is due in May! More on that later.

So I started this quilt a while back. Here is the post. It took me pretty much a year to complete. I was working on it sporatically in the beginning because I thought I didn't have a deadline. Then, back in August, I learned things were going to change so away I went! The pattern is called Fractions On A Roll. It's for Jelly roll's but I used regular cuts of fabric.

Once the strips were cut, it went together pretty quickly.

I also splurged and got it professionally quilted because I know this will be washed many times and I want it to last. I just LOVE the pattern! Once that was done, I started on the binding.

The binding went on really quickly! I'm really happy with how this quilt turned out!

With the left over fabric, I made a matching sham. My little tadpole is so proud of her big girl bed!

Picnic Blanket

Sorry about being absent for a while. Life always seems to get in the way! The important this is we have been having lots of fun this summer! One thing we have been using a lot of is this picnic blanket I made. I wasn't planning on making one but I came across this flannel backed vinyl at my local fabric shop on super-duper clearance. It was $1/yard! I picked up 2 yards not knowing what I would use it for. It was just too cute to pass up!

I had some brown fleece in my stash and thought that would make a great picnic blanket! I cut the fleece to be about 1 1/2" shorter on each side (3" total).

I also gave the blanket a mitered corner. It just gave it a cleaner look.

But how to assemble with out using pins??????????? I came up with clips from an office supply store!

The clips kept it in place and didn't put excess hole in the vinyl. I also added some fleece wrapped elastic to hold the blanket together when wrapped up.

So here's the final product:

Perfect to keep in the car for that impromptu picnic!

Thanks for looking!!!

Diaper Cake

I guess I'm all about quick projects lately. I guess I feel more accomplished when I finish a project that was done during a single nap or evening after the little one goes to sleep!

So, a neighbor was having her second baby soon. Yay! We love babies! She's a new neighbor so a few of us wanted to give her a baby shower to welcome her and her soon to be new addition to the neighborhood. So there is no better time to make a diaper cake! I used a box of size one diapers. Rolled each one up and secured them with a rubber band. I made two burp clothes and, with a teething ring, made them into a bow. Then I added a few binkies and a bottle filled with M&Ms. I had enough diapers to make a three tier cake! I loved how it turned out!

Patriotic Wreath

It was time for an updated patriotic/fourth of July wreath for my front door. I had to put the old one out of it's misery. So sad :(

So I went and got some new supplies:

1 grapevine wreath - $3

3 bunches of red, white, blue artificial flowers (from dollar store) - $3

1 star garland (from dollar store) - $1

Patriotic fabric (had on hand)

Total - $7

So I started with a basic grapevine wreath

and supplies

I just wrapped the garland around the wreath

At this point I pulled out my patriotic fabric stash and made a bow. Now I made this up as I went. I knew it didn't have to be perfect and I didn't know how it would turn out. Pretty happy with how it turned out.

Since it is made of fabric, I thought it was a little too "droopy" so I actually sprayed it with a clear matte spray paint to stiffen it up a bit. It worked! I know there is a spray stiffener product out there but I only needed a little bit so I improvised!

Then I added the flowers to the wreath and hung it up!

Grandmother's Sewing Cabinet Redo

So in the spirit of refinishing some furniture, here is another quick redo project I just finished. I have had my grandmothers sewing cabinet for a while and have been using it. I have had this project on my to-do list for years and I finally got to it!

What got me going was when I signed up for a sample bottle of some paint. I chose this cool light blue color (totally blanking on the name right now). I got the sample bottle in the mail and thought it would look great on the cabinet. So off I went.

Pretty green right? LOL It was pretty beat up and chipped. I even had to pull off the moving sticker on it from 4 years ago! LOL

Since this was primarily worked on during nap times, it took me a few days to strip it and sand it down. I'm glad the paint came off easily. Then it was painting time. Couple of coats of paint and.................

I had new drawer pulls to put on this but they ended up not working out. I spray painted the original pulls instead and put them back on. Gave new life to this old girl!

Dresser Redo

I'm not sure if I have admitted this before but I LOVE to refinish furniture! I guess it's the Norwegian in me. I just truly enjoy putting the life back into an old piece. There is one problem with having a love like this..................................................................I'm running out of space to store these items!

I had the opportunity to pick up a 3 drawer dresser that someone was going to throw away. I just couldn't let it go! There was still life let in this dresser. Here is what it looked like:

The drawer pulls looked like this:

Nothing special. I wanted this to be a quick project so instead of finding new drawer pulls I just spray painted them with silver paint.

And with a good sanding and a couple of coats of black paint....................

It has beautiful detail above the top drawer that was missed when it was natural but really pops when it's painted black.

I'm really pleased how this quick project turned out!

Come On Spring!

I don't know about you, but I am so ready for spring! With a few warm days to tease me, and the temperature dropping as I type this (not to mention the snow that is falling on my NJ friends right now), all I can think of lately is warmer weather. Playing outside, planting flowers, and wearing flip flops of course!

So getting ready for spring, I started a new backpack! Greens and blues! I did make this one a little bigger than the last one. Another difference is I quilted these fabrics together before I assembled it.

There is a zippered outer front pocket plus two inner pockets.

Plus a little tag to hang a pen between the two pockets.

Warm weather........I'm ready!