Productive weekend of sewing

Aah, another productive weekend of sewing!  How I love not working weekends anymore!  It was well worth the pay cut.  I finished sewing each block for the baby quilt I've been working on.  Here they are before I sewed them together.  At this point, I thought my biggest challenge was getting the colors arranged...oh, how wrong I was!!

Somehow, I hadn't yet considered just how I was going to sew these blocks together.  I suppose if I was working from a pattern, or had taken a quilting class, I might have had a clue what I was up against, but as usual, I was winging it and making it up as I went along.  I sewed each row of blocks together - no problem.  My first hint of the challenge laying ahead came when I saw the rows lined up and realized that sewing the rows together was going to involve some very precise connections.  I tried sewing the first row to the second using my machine...complete disaster...out came the seam ripper.  Finally, after staring at the rows and trying to dream up an easy way to get the rows sewn together, I broke down and just sewed them together by hand.  There just didn't seem to be another way to get them sewn together with the precision needed to make the blocks looked stacked properly.  Looking back, if I had had a design wall, and hadn't sewn all the blocks before trying to hook them together, it probably wouldn't have been so challenging, but I don't have a design wall, or the patience to think that far ahead!  Aah, lesson learned (or maybe not)!  But anyway, at long last, my patience paid off and the rows were successfully sewn together.

Now, the next challenge...what color to use for the borders.  After putting several scrap fabrics behind the blocks, I decided on the darkest blue.  Next problem...Joann's didn't have that blue fabric!  I had purchased most of these fabrics in fat bundles, and unfortunately, not all of the fabrics were available by the yard.  Back to the drawing board.  After laying out several (and I mean several!!!) fabrics on Joann's cutting counter, I decided on a nice, bright green.  Green happens to be my least favorite color, so it took quite a bit of struggle for me to get past that.  However, the quilt is not for me, and the green really did seem like the best choice.  I also picked another cute fabric which I am planning on using for the back and perhaps a narrow border along with the green.  I'll be working on that exact layout in the back of my mind this week and tackle the actual "making it happen" part next weekend.  Hope the work week goes by quick!  I'd rather sew than work any day of the week - can't wait until I can spend more time sewing and more time looking at sunshine instead of clouds!

Fabric "Nana Made It" Labels

I've been working out of town for the last week and a half, so I've had to take a break from posting.  However, I have a few updates to share.  First, the hollow cube blocks are coming along for the rainbow baby quilt.  I have sixteen of the twenty-two needed done.  Still not sure what the quilt back or border fabric will be, but I'm working on it!

Another fun project I did a couple of weekends ago was making labels for my projects.  I used a tutorial found  on Pinterest using t-shirt transfer paper. I'd put a link here to it if I could find the tutorial I used, but it seems to have hidden from me.  I'll see about that in the future.  However, it was really easy after a little practicing on the computer and with the t-shirt transfer paper.  Here's the results:

Next week, it's my granddaughter's second birthday, which was a perfect excuse to try out my card making skills.  I've been pinning a lot of cute cards on Pinterest for inspiration.  I went all out and bought (as a little bit early birthday present for myself) a Cricut Expression 2.  Here's my very first attempt at card making.  When I get to be a pro, I'll probably look back at this card as pretty amateur, but for my first try, I'm happy with it.

Aahh...so many fun things to do...so little time to do them!

Hollow Cube Quilt Block

I know some very special people who are having babies in June, so I've been thinking about what I'd like to make for their babies.  I'd been thinking that I wanted to make a quilt, and after seeing pictures of quilts made using the hollow cube quilt block, and watching this very helpful tutorial, Hollow Cube Quilt Block, I thought I'd give it a try.

Here's the color palate I chose:

I made one test block using colors from my stash before starting on the real thing.  It was a worthwhile use of time because I didn't get the layout of the first block exactly how I wanted it, and I figured out a system for which pieces to sew first.  Once I had a little confidence, I moved on to the real thing.

Here's the first two blocks, using the red tones.

Christmas Gifts

Now that I've finally taken the time to download pictures from my camera, here are a few of the fun Christmas gifts I made this year.  As always, full credit goes to Pinterest for my inspiration!

Buttons, buttons!

With inspiration from Pinterest, and my granddaughter's birthday in less than a month, I just finished my first button project. I found buttons by the pound here, and have enough left over for several future projects. The rest of the supplies were purchased at Joann Fabrics. I'm pleased with the end product. Hope you like it too!



After seeing how many repins this got on Pinterest, I thought I had better post a picture from my camera instead of my phone so the detail would show better.  Since I don't have a tutorial, the least I could do is post a decent enough picture so you can see what I did.

Just a hint

Until I have time to get this blog up to speed, I'll just give you a taste of the types of things I've made over the years.

So, that should give you an idea of things to come.  I can't wait to get started!

It will be a while before I can get this blog to where I want it to be, but today I'm taking the first step.  It is my hope to use this blog to share the fun I have making things with other would-be crafters.  Perhaps I can even inspire an experienced crafter! 

I have been so impressed with what I have learned from other bloggers!  They are a constant source of inspiration and instruction for new projects for me. (God Bless Pinterest!) Hopefully I can provide some inspiration or instruction to help others share the joy of making things too.

Someday, there will be tutorials for my projects.  So many people feel making things yourself is "so hard" or "takes too much time", but I disagree.  Once you see the joy on someone's face when they are given a handmade gift, and the pride you feel when you hear "you MADE this?!?!", you're hooked. 

My biggest joy in life is making things for my granddaugher. In fact, although she's not quite two years old, she's the one who came up with the name of my new blog.  As she grows older, I hope she will continue to say with pride "Nana made it!" the same way she does today.