My New (Old) Etsy Shop!

Yes, it's true, I've thrown my hat into the Etsy ring.  I opened a shop a couple of years ago to sell my hand-embroidered things, mostly baby clothes.  I love embroidery but I had a newborn and the custom work stressed me out- I much prefer to just make stock and put it out there.  

So, a while ago I made these tooth fairy pockets for my nephews.  They're just like the ones my Great Aunt Eunice made for me and my siblings, and I always thought they were just perfect.  They are like small blankets with a pocket, so they're very easy for the tooth fairy to slip out from under a sleeping child's head to replace the tooth with a surprise.  I posted a picture of my nephews' pockets on Facebook and bunches of friends said they wanted some too.  My oldest daughter has lost two teeth now and many of my friends have kids the same age, so I decided to go ahead and make up a few and put them in there and see what happens!  I've sold one so far, and I like not worrying about customs- I just make them up with fabric that I like and hope that someone will come along who likes them too! 

I'd love it if you'd take a look, and if you know someone approaching tooth-losing age, share the link with their tooth fairy!

Cough... Wheeze... I'm still here!

Wow, February really was not fun at all!  I think I've lived in this frozen tundra long enough to determine that if I could just sleep through February my whole year would be much better.  It's dark, it's cold, the snow is brown and gross, and I'm just completely over winter.  My whole family has had a cold we just can't shake, and for me it turned into strep throat, a sinus infection, and my first antibiotics prescription in nearly 20 years! 

But enough about that, March is coming SOON and even though I know we're in for at least a few more snowfalls, there will also be those few warm days that are just enough to give me hope that it won't be winter forever.  It won't, right?  Please?

I did do some sewing while I've been away from my poor neglected blog.  I completed three mug rugs for the mug rug swap.  The first one just didn't turn out quite up to my standards, although I love the idea and will someday do it again.  I think that one was just a victim of me not having the right tools- namely a walking foot.  The back has some puckers I just couldn't let slide.  And I wasn't exactly going for wonky lines, but my persnickety machine was in a wonky mood.  I do love the patchwork, it's like an I-Spy of my favorite fabrics.

So that one lives here now, and this is what actually went in the mail to my partner.  Two mug rugs and some 5" squares of fabric.  I made the rainbow-y one first and then remembered that my partner isn't wild about green!  The green was pretty prominent, so I made another just to be safe.  The white background one is inspired by the "Little Bits" quilt in Joelle Hoverson's Last Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts. I hope she likes them!

I also already received my mug rug and goodies from Kandra.   She sent a bright and cheery mug (which I've kept filled with sore throat tea), a hair clip for my kiddo and of course a beautiful mug rug! I don't think I said this in my "likes" for the swap, but I have an English degree and am a voracious reader, so the fabric with words on it is so perfect for me!  Sorry for the dark pic, it's the darn cloudy Wisconsin weather.  But having a rainbow right here by my keyboard is very nice!  Thank you Kandra!

Liebster Award

Awwww! Felicity Quilts gave my blog the Liebster Award!  Isn't she sweet?  The award is intended to recognize smaller blogs (fewer than 300 followers), and is a way to get the word out about blogs you may not have heard of, but are worth checking out. As part of the award I get to nominate a few other "little" blogs I think you should know about!

The first one isn't a sewing blog, I hope it still counts!  My friend Missy just started a blog called Feed the Family, and it's all about, well, feeding the family!  She has great ideas about reusing leftovers, loving your slow cooker, making meal plans and more.  This is a BRAND new blog and only has a handful of posts so far, but I've known Missy for years and I know there is great stuff to come.

My friend Sarah at Sarah Jane Sews isn't a frequent blogger but the things she makes are gorgeous!  She not only sews but knits and cooks and does all sorts of other lovely crafty things, and she's a fellow Wisconsinite.

I have known Joyce of Smudgeville since we were freshmen in college, working together at the food court.  Little did I know she was already crafty then- She knits, crochets and sews... A triple threat.  Everything she makes is gorgeous and my girls and I have been the lucky recipients of many of her creations.

Thank you Felicity!!!

Quiltalongs, Swaps, and Gifts! Oh my!

I am definitely starting the new year off with a sewing bang!   It's time for another "Put it all in one place before you forget something" list!

Doll Quilt Swap- Waiting on partner info, should have it this weekend!
Mug Rug Swap- I have a potential mug rug pieced and partly basted, if the quilting goes well I might be good to go!
Make Mine Modern- Sign-ups just closed and I'll find out later today if I got a spot!
Pixies- This is a swap among my mommy friends, some crafty, some not.  This time we're sending little gifties over a 4 month period rather than one larger package. Fun!

Plus, I'm doing the Style Stitches Monthly Bag Challenge, hosted by JemJam, I'm really intrigued by IronCraft and would love to play along with that.  I just joined the group for Don't Call Me Betsy's Sliced Coins Quilt Along.  I'm planning to make three (three!) baby boy quilts in that style for three friends who are welcoming new sons in the next few months!  I really wanted to do the Modern Quilt Guild's Project Modern Monochromatic Challenge, I even pulled fabric for it, but it's getting pushed pretty low down the priority list!

I have two more Christmas gifts to make, probably a bag and a table runner.  And a friend of mine is designing a logo for me for the Madison Modern Quilt Guild, so I am going to make something for him in exchange- Not sure what yet but I've got to keep that on the radar.  I am making two little video game totes for my friend Joyce's kiddos. In exchange she made me some AWESOME knitted stuff- There are a couple of sneak previews here.  I LOVE chunky yarn and look at those amazing colors!

I've got a couple of other one on one crafty swaps percolating, and I have an inkling of an idea for an Etsy shop that I need to get moving on...  I think I should change the name of my blog to "Absolutely NO Sleepytime!"  Whew!

I got in!!! Doll Quilt Swap 10 & Mug Rug Swap

Yay!!!  The Doll Quilt swap has gotten so popular that participants are now selected by lottery.  I applied for the first time for this round, and I got a spot!!!  I don't have my partner info yet, but I am already browsing and plotting and planning!

AND, I also got a spot in the Scrappy Mug Rug Swap for the first time.  I've already got my partner info for that one so I've been sketching and planning and pulling fabrics- I'm so excited!!!

Madison Modern Quilt Guild!

I've decided it's high time Madison, Wisconsin had it's very own branch of the Modern Quilt Guild.  So I'm going to start one!  Want to help?  Know anyone in Madison who should hear about this?

Come on over!

Terri, I'm hoping to hear from you!

My First Bee!

Sew Fresh Fabrics is hosting a Scrap Bee and I signed up!  I've never done a bee before, so I'm really excited- Nervous, but excited!  They are sending an assortment of scraps to each participant, we'll all make any block we'd like and send them back- And we get to keep any leftover scraps!  The finished quilts will be donated to Project Linus.  They got such a great response that they're going to do one boy quilt and one girl quilt- I'm in the girl group.  This round is full but follow their blog to watch for the next round.

Style Stitches Monthly Bag Challenge- January

I posted a few days ago about JemJam's Style Stitches Monthly Bag Challenge.  The January bag is the very first bag in the book- The Cosmo Bag.  I've chosen my fabrics and have everything cut out and the interfacing fused, so I'm about ready to sew!  I actually had this one on my "to do soon" list so I already had fabrics in mind from the stash.  Choosing fabrics usually takes me forever, so I was glad to have that step already taken care of!

The orange (Fresh Start in Tangerine from Amy's August Fields line) will be the main body, the grey will be the handles and bands, and the lining will be white.  There are options for short or long handles, but I was trying to conserve fabric so when I cut those pieces I ended up with medium handles- Right in the middle between the short and long measurements. 

On with the sewing!!!

My Pillow Talk Swap 4 Pillow!

I received my pillow for the Pillow Talk Swap and I LOVE it!  This was my first time participating, and I had so much fun!  This is a nice big pillow with the cutest little hand embroidered birdies in the middle.

 

My partner also sent an embellished dish towel, a pin cushion, and some pearl cotton. Aren't they sweet?

The pillow I made has reached its destination, but the recipient hasn't posted pictures yet... *biting my nails, hoping she liked it!*  I didn't get any finished product pictures, but it was based around this block.

I hope everyone had a wonderful time celebrating the New Year, even if that meant snoozing through it!  We let the girls stay up, assuming they'd crash long before midnight and they so did not- They were raring to go well past the ball drop!  They have not made up for the lost sleep, so the alarm clock signifying the return to the daily grind is going to be very unwelcome tomorrow morning!  Good night!

Monthly Bag Challenge!

Have you seen this?  Jemellia over at JemJam has such a cool idea.  She's hosting a Monthly Bag Challenge where we'll make a bag every month from Amy Butler's Style Stitches.  You can challenge yourself to make just one, or play every month and have a great stock of gifts ready to go throughout the year!  She'll have giveaways and there's a Flickr group.  Sounds like fun, right?   Why not join in?