I made this quilt from the line Hideaway for Moda by Lauren and Jessi Jung.  When I first saw these prints, I new they would make a perfect quilt for Baby M.  The colors are so bright and true, just like he is!  Also, there is something so simple and perfect about a patchwork-square quilt.  Every child really needs at least one.  You can read more about this quilt in the original post I wrote back in January.  Since then, it has really become our go-to quilt for snuggling under on the couch at the end of a long day.  It is a great lap quilt, measuring about 48″ by 60″.

I hope you enjoy the many quilts, I know I can’t wait to see what everyone else is making!  Thanks for stopping by!

 I did some major fabric purchasing right after the New Year, and since then, I have been trying to be good and not get anything more. But this fabric called Summersville by Lu Summers was way to good to pass up.  I had been admiring her hand-printed pieces in her Etsy shop for quite some time, and when I heard she was making a line for Moda, I knew I had to get some.  Fabric.com had a great sale a few weeks ago, so I picked up three different one yard cuts along with some fabric to make Miss C a couple of pillow cases.

The fabric finally came today and I opened the package and promptly threw the fabric in the washer and dryer.  I had been dying to use this particular fabric with Miss C.  She LOVES coloring and has became quite good at it.  We broke out some sharpies and went to town. It was great fun.  We only had a few bright colors, and they were thick-tipped markers, so tomorrow we will be picking up more.  I can see this being such a hit with kids, wouldn’t it be great at a party!  Someone on Flickr suggested ironing freezer paper to the back of the fabric before coloring it, so we will try that tomorrow.  I see so many possibilities for this line, I will be placing another order this weekend, this is going to become a huge staple in my house.

I have also made a few gifts for friends lately as well as clothes for Miss C and I finished my Katie Jump Rope granny square quilt top.  I hope to get some time on Mother’s Day to piece the back and then baste it.  My plan is to hand quilt it and have it ready for the Woodstock Fair over Labor Day weekend.  Should be doable!

**  We did lots more coloring today, take a peek (ironing freezer paper on the back worked great for this)!

So far, I have made her two new skirts, two “up-cycled skirts”, and three pairs of short-pants as we like to call them here.  I have been going through everyone’s drawers and closets performing my twice-a-year seasonal/too small clothing swap.  Big J seems to be fine, as does Babay M, considering I still have all of his big brother’s clothes as hand-me-downs, but the Miss is in need of some more attire.

Before I head to the store for a few basics, I want to try to make as much as I can.  What she mostly needs are t-shirts and a few more cotton-jersey shorts.  Also, a few nightgowns.  It is just so easy to make clothes for her at this age and with my serger, I really have no excuses.  Hopefully by the end of the weekend I will have knocked out at least three shirts and one nightgown to add to what I have already made.  She still has tons of shirred sundresses from last year that still fit, thankfully.  I think I will also likely make Baby M a few more pairs of pants, he lives in the three pictured below, I think he looks so adorable when wearing them.  Also, I doubt I will make anything for Big J this week, but maybe he and I can do some printing on t-shirts for the summer.

Normally the month of February feels never ending and I can’t wait to get to March.  March is already more than half over and I don’t even know where the past few months have gone.  Time is flying by at warp speed, which is mostly a good thing, but not always.  We have been doing our best to keep up with everything on the farm, in the house, and with the kids.  At the end of the day we prioritize spending time with those that we love, so, stuff has been piling up.  We are now in the midst of a major rush to get many things crossed off of our to do list.  Here are a few of the things we have been up to.

This morning I made a MAJOR trip to the Post Office.  I sent our cow pelt to CA and a sheep pelt (not ours, but it was going to be tossed by our butcher and it was VERY soft) to PA to be tanned.  I also mailed two baby quilts off to friends from graduate school.  Additionally, I FINALLY mailed out my three Pay-It-Forward bundles.  You can check out what they included here, or not, if you want to be surprised

The weather has been amazing and we have some major garden and fencing tasks to tackle.  In addition to our 50′ x 100′ garden in the back, we are putting in a few smaller beds in the front for things like lettuce and root crops.  I need to have closer access to things that need very regular weeding and watering.  The big garden will be for big crops like potatoes, tomatoes, corn, and squash.  Mike is de-rocking and prepping to till.  He added a new gate to the garden and fixed the fencing.

Additionally, we have decided to put up some more fencing in the back.  Our sheep have complete free range of our “back yard”.  This has worked fine as they keep the grass mowed and have been really polite.  But our flock is getting bigger, plus Baby M likes to wander, so we are putting up some gates and fences that will keep the sheep contained and out of our “back yard” and also make it so M can’t wander to the pond.  The poultry will still have free access to everything, but they are not a problem.  Speaking of poultry, our entire flock of seven guineas went missing one day.  We had been lax about closing the coop up but then were finding broken eggs in the morning so were being very diligent about closing it.  About a week into doing this, the guineas went missing.  I hate it when you try to fix a problem and end up causing another one.  We also hope to get an incubator this year so we can replenish our flock.

This weekend our sheep will get shorn and we will vaccinate the ewes in prep for lambing, which should be in a few weeks.  This is our ram’s first breeding season so we hope he has done his job well.  We will know better after tomorrow when we can see their bellies.

The weather has been incredible, we never really had a winter and this week it is supposed to hit 80F!  The kids and I have been enjoying having picnics on the front and playing in the sunshine.  We also started a bunch of seeds this week, mainly cool weather crops, in our grow tunnel.

Finally, last weekend we celebrated our anniversary with a homemade fondue extravaganza.  It was pretty amazing, we followed Alton Brown’s cheese fondue recipe and had an assortment of veggies and bread.  We also had a broth pot and dipped cooked seafood into it to warm them up.  We finished it of  with a round of chocolate fondue.  We made biscotti and sponge cake and had tons of fresh fruit.  It was wonderful

We hope life is busy and happy wherever you are!

My life never feels “level, square, balanced or concentric” which is probably why I take so much pleasure in the act of “truing up” fabric.  Fabric is either knit (like jersey) or woven (like quilting cottons).  I really like sewing with strips of fabric and prefer when the fabric is straight along the grain line.   When I get new fabric additions to my stash, I frequently inspect their cut edge and then make a small snip in the selvedge edge.  I rip the fabric across so that I have a “true” edge, one that is perfectly straight with respect to the grain of the fabric.  Sometimes, the fabric has been cut very well and the piece I rip off is even the whole length.  Other times, I have had as much as four inches in difference between one end and the other.  As such, I often have a pile of squiggly fabric snakes that the kids love to play with a make into nests, pretend food for animals, etc.

The other night I was looking at the pile of fabric that has made its way into my house over the last month.  I am trying to be very strategic in my fabric purchases, evaluating my stash for things that are lacking and making a list of what I need.  Then, I wait for a big sale.  I have gotten some great additions, mostly in the shades of grey, yellow, and orange.  Despite the fact that I have three (!!) quilts that are basted and in need of quilting, I really wanted to play with some of these new fabrics.

Instead of trying to rip off as little as I can while still “truing up” my fabric, I picked out a bunch of greys and oranges and ripped off at least 3/4″ from each one.  I then took my strips and made a courthouse step block (future table runner?) and then just sewed the remaining strips together to make this mini-quilt.  I love the way the colors fade and grow.  I think this piece matches my mood of late quite perfectly as well  I love the contrast.  I stitched and quilted it on my OTHER thrift store find, this Singer 603e Touch and Sew.  I went back the same weekend I found the first one looking for some accessories and found another machine.  This one was only $30 and was in perfect condition.  It sews like a dream.  The quilting was done by sewing vertical lines at random widths.  For backing, I used this completely ugly vintage print that I picked up from an estate sale.  So ugly it is pretty? Hmmm, maybe not.  I used some rich brown for binding and stitched that is place with some bright orange Aurifil thread.  The picture really does not do it justice.  It measure up at 17″ x 15″ and I think I may hang it on a wall in my kitchen.

I am entering it into the Modern Mini-Quilt challenge being hosted by Jennifer of Ellison Lane Quilts.  I have mere hours to spare, nothing like a last minute entry!

I feel like my life is in some serious need of “truing up”.  Next week is spring break at the university where I work part time and I have an entire week off.  I am very much looking forward to finding some balance and making things level once again in my life.

Also, I haven’t forgotten about my pay it forward obligations.  My three recipients can look forward to packages in the mail by the middle of the month.  I will email everyone once the bundles are on their way.

Many, many hours have been spent in our household engaged in the construction of forts.  There is certainly something magical about throwing a blanket over some furniture and creating a whole new world.  It is the ultimate in open and creative play.  Castle?  Cave?  Space station?  There is no limit to what it can become.

Until very recently, forts have been the mainstay of our children’s construction efforts.  However, recently there has been a subtle shift, largely due to the preferences of Miss C and the destructive forces of Baby M.  M loves the forts as much as his older siblings, but what he really loves to do is pretend to “Godzilla” them, crashing headlong into them and destroying what took at times hours of work to get “just right”.  Enter the nest.  Miss C prefers to take every pillow, blanket, and pelt she can find and layer them until she has a gigantic pile in the middle of the room.  She will then spend hours engaged in play with her brothers, reading, or playing with her stuffed animals while in her nests. (Seems like she is not alone, check out this great interview)

So, because Miss C needed some new building materials AND because we recently moved our TV down to the basement, I decided to make some very large cushions and pillows.  I wanted something that would be comfortable for a kid and  also a grown-up.  They had to be strong, durable, cleanable, relatively light, and of course, colorful!   Our front room has an entire wall of books and I think we probably spend at least two hours a day engaged in reading with our kids.  So, in addition to making the cushions user friendly for some game/tv time in the basement playroom I wanted them to be transportable up to the library room for story time.

Luckily, JoAnn Fabrics had some very big sales right after the New Year and I was able to stock up on cotton duck canvas, polyfill, piping, and zippers.  I then went in search of some good tutorials to turn my vision into a reality.

I am a child of the 80s and felt nostalgic for some huge, bright, primary pieces.  Reading Rainbow was one of my favorite shows, and so the cushions took on this theme in my head.  I have a great love for brightly colored furniture of the type you see in libraries and preschools, so that is what I wanted to create in my own home. I found some really fantastic tutorials on the blog Living with Punks.  I based the “marshmallow” cushions and the “flying saucer” cushion off of her tutorials.

Before I got started with that, though, I made this sprocket pillow by Cluck, Cluck Sew.  It gave me a chance to make a 3-D pillow in the right shape.  It was pretty easy.  I also had four old foam cushions in various sizes that we had recycled off of old couches and chairs.  They had been covered with some very cheap flannel that was safety pinned in place and were the current cushions in the basement.  I wanted to make proper boxed covers for them, but first we stripped them back down to the foam, washed them well in the tub, rinsed them with vinegar, then left them in the sun to dry for a few days.  They looked good as new!

I think you can find lots of great tutorials for making cushions like this on line, so I am not going to recreate them.  Just do a search for “floor cushion tutorial”.  I will give you my list of tips below.  I ended up making

• three 24″ by 16″ “marshmallow” cushions (red, pin, orange)
• one giant “flying saucer” 40″ cushion (purple)
• two 24″ square cushion (yellow and green)
• one 24″ x 40″ cushion pillow (blue)
• one 24″ x 36″ rectangular cushion (rainbow)

For each cushion, I got 2 yards of duck canvas.  However, with the exception of the flying saucer cushion, they each only used about 1.5 yards of fabric.  I wanted to have leftovers and am planning to use the scraps for a few more flying saucers and some smaller throw pillows.  Because apparently, what I made is not enough for my kids

The round cushions each used 2 packs of Maxi-piping (2.5 yards) and the square and rectangle cushions took between 2 and 4 packs.  I used dark brown and black because  I like the contrast.  Make sure when you attach the piping, you use a thread color to match the piping NOT the fabric.  Also, I used a zipper foot to attach the piping and it worked really well.

I wanted these to be cleanable, so I gave each cushion an invisible zipper.  They are pretty easy to install, here is a great tutorial.  On the first two pillows (pink and orange) I used zippers I had on hand, I think they were about 9″.  They were really a bit too short, so for the rest of the projects I switched to 14″ zippers for the round cushions at 22″ zippers for the squares/rectangles.  I used black zippers and I think it worked great.  It made for easy turning and then closing, I think hand stitching these things closed would have made them less durable.  Machine stitching them closed would not have been possible once they were stuffed.  I used upholstery thread for all of the stitching with the exception of attaching the piping.

When stitching it all together, use a 5/8″ seam.  These pieces take serious abuse and anything smaller is likely to pull out.  In fact, I have  few repairs I need to make on the first two I did, I didn’t give myself enough seam allowance.

Each round cushion used  three 32 oz bags of polyfill.  I got it on sale for 50% off, which was key.  With all of the discounts and coupons, I was able to make each round cushion for about $25 in material costs.  The square/rectangle ones were about half that because I already had the foam.

When making the boxed covers, I also used invisible zippers.  I incorporated them into the sides.  To make the “boxing” I pinned my “side band” of fabric in place on the square, and then as I sewed, I clipped each corner in the seam allowance as I came to it.  I also didn’t seam my band until the end, like I do when making a quilt binding.  That way it fit perfectly.  I found this to be more accurate then pre snipping them and pre seaming.  I am better at fixing things on the fly when sewing.

I wrapped each of the square and rectangle cushions with some thin poly batting before putting them in the covers.  I think it gives them a bit more body.

All in all, this was a fantastic project.  They came out exactly how I envisioned.  The two favorites are the rainbow cushion and the purple flying saucer.  I have enough scraps to do at least two more flying saucers, I just need to wait until the polyfill goes back on sale so I can stuff them.  The cushions are used every day in our house, as you can see from the pictures.  And, as many as I made, there are “not enough”.  I think I could make 100 of them and there would still not be enough  They are fabulous and we have been enjoying a tremendous amount of nest time of late.  While it is a bit chilly in our basement (it is roughly finished and un-heated) they are getting tons of use upstairs.  Come summer, I know this will switch and we will all be so happy to have so many comfy cushions to lounge on down there.

There are few things I enjoy more than going to the thrift store.  I can remember this being a favorite activity of mine from the time I was a young girl.  There is just something about the hunt, the lure of the undiscovered, and the unquestioning truth behind the statement tat one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.  When I was 18 I found a 10-inch Griswold cast iron skillet for $10 in a thrift store in Wisconsin (I just checked ebay and it seems like the going rate is $150).  It was in perfect condition and may be my greatest find, ever. We cook with it all the time and tonight I used it to make bacon and eggs since we had breakfast for dinner.

Our local Goodwill is an amazing source of incredible finds (I found these amazing holiday plates and mugs there last December).  I actually don’t go very often, mostly because there is little that we actually need, and also because whenever I do go, I end up coming home with a car filled with too much stuff that I just couldn’t pass by.  Honestly, if money, space, and time were not factors (HA!) I would probably go every single week.  As it currently stands, my trips there are entirely dictated by the wardrobe needs of our children.  I swear that Big J grew two inches over the last two months and the only pants he had that fit him were pajamas and soccer pants.  I do like to keep my children semi-presentable while in public, so we headed to the Goodwill with the intention of buying him several pairs of jeans and trousers and maybe some new sneakers.

To say that my children love the “recycle store” (as we have affectionately and accurately named it) would be a severe understatement.  I think they could spend hours in the toy aisle which is always cascading with the most random assortment of cheap plastic crap and amazing vintage toys you could ever imagine.  They have found some very cool things, from a set of Voltron characters to a huge plastic dollhouse McMansion that was $4(!!!) to a huge stack of brand new board games (great ones like Exago and several other strategy games which is always our favorite kind).  On this trip, I found the set of pegboards seen below.  For $3.99.  I think there are about 20 boards in the box and they came with a small bag of pegs.  I checked online and one etsy seller has them listed for $6/board, so it seems like I found a good deal.  This is the part were I become for a moment *that* mom, but later that day after I came down from Baby M’s nap, I found the two big kids sitting at the counter diligently putting in pegs and telling me they had each made up a new game and wouldn’t I like to play?  Yes, please!

Miss C found a stuffed puppy to add to her growing collection, Baby M found a new toy bus, and we picked up 6 pairs of pants for Big J for the astonishing figure of $16.  I also snagged a pair of crocs and some ice skates for Miss C for next year.  But the biggest finds of the day came in the form of a Polaroid Land Model 100 instant pack camera for $4 which I quickly snagged for Mike and a Singer sewing machine in a mid-century modern cabinet that I didn’t get and left the store kicking myself about (but there’s a happy ending regarding the Singer).

Update: Mike got his first snapshot with his “new” camera.  Awesome!

There is no question that some things were built much better fifty years ago than things built today.  Products were made to last and be durable.  We got a Royal Mercury portable typewriter a few trips ago and it works great.  The kids love it and find it fascinating.  Mike ordered a battery and film for his camera and hope to try it out soon.  If I had had more time and fewer children and been driving our other car, I think I would have brought the sewing machine then and there.  I didn’t write down a model number, but I knew it was likely a 1960s Singer based on the styling.  I told Mike about it and he chastised me for not picking it up.  I went to work that evening with plans to go back first thing the next morning to get it.  Of course, when I got home, Mike had beaten me to it.  He had loaded up all three children and drove to get the sewing machine and had set it up in the dining room.  So shocked and amazed.

The machine looks to be in good condition.  The motor runs, but it clearly needs a thorough cleaning and oiling.  There were no presser feet and the front tension dial was missing, but thankfully, since this is a Singer 600 Auto Reel, a very common and popular model, getting replacement parts was very easy.  Hopefully, Mike (and Big J) will be able to take it apart and clean it over the weekend so that when the parts get here early next week, we can try it out.  We also have a few good sewing machine dealers/repair shops near us, so if we run into trouble, we can take it in. The cabinet is in pretty good shape, I will also try to buff it up and give it a good polish.  It was $50, which seemed expensive by Goodwill standards, but it a very fair price for what we got.  Maybe someone there knew

I really can’t wait to try it out, I have been watching videos on YouTube of people with the same machine and it just seems like a work horse.  I like the Brother machine I use now, but I use it a lot and I am worried it won’t last much longer.  Plastic gears are really rubbish. I made a new board on Pinterest for info about the machine, thankfully there seem to be a number of enthusiasts out there. You can also see more pics of the machine in our Flickr stream, where we hope to document the cleaning and restoration process.

There is nothing better than a successful trip to a second-hand store.  I wish you all the best of luck in your endeavors.

I thought it would be nice to post about some of the seasonable crafts we have been making.  The kids and I have been crafting with winter and Valentine’s day in mind.  I love making seasonal projects, it is a fun way to get the kids involved in the cycle of the calendar and it makes the house look festive.  Plus, just when some of the decorations are looking old or stale, it is time to make something else!

First up is the sprocket pillow.  I used a tutorial from Cluck, Cluck Sew.  It was very straight forward and I know I will make more of these in the future.  I wanted to pick colors that seemed “wintery” to me and were outside of my normal choices.  I also wanted to use solids.  I made the larger size.  The button popped off, my crew tends to be a little rough  It was really fun and easy and served as the inspiration to a massive sewing project that I will be posting on the blog later this week.

Next up is this winer garland.  It was largely the project of our oldest, he even sewed much of it together with a little help from mom.  It was really long.  We cut different sized circles out of craft felt and he paired them together.  We sewed them together with some silver thread and then hung them in our dining room.  It looks VERY festive

Similar to this garland, I made a heart mobile out of different shades of red and pink felt.  I just cut out three different shapes of hearts and sewed them together.  I made five strands each around 2-3ft long.  I hung them from an embroidery hoop and placed them at our front door.  It is south facing and when it is sunny, it lights up the hearts.  Also, because we heat with a  wood stove, we always have air currents in our house, which make the hearts swirl ever so gently.  It makes me feel so peaceful to look at it.

Finally, I made a patchwork table runner, Valentine’s style.  I made some paper-pieced hearts with fabric from some of my favorite lines and some linen.  I wanted to make it “heart” shaped.  My daughter totally got it, but the boys both thought I made a set of “Ls”.  Oh well, L is for Love!  I quilted it with 1/4″ lines using an Aurifil thread I got in one of the SMS giveaways.  It was in a shade of raspberry and it looks lovely.  I backed it with some Kona solids and the binding is from AMH Loulouthi.  LOVE!

Are you working on any seasonal crafts?

I was at Joann Fabrics last week to pick up some supplies for a major basement-redo project I am working on for the kids and I had to check out these fabrics. I picked up some half-yard cuts of my favorites, I am sure I will be getting more, they are SO soft and the fabric feels lovely. I was surprised by how much I loved the plaid print in the cherry color way. I knew it would be perfect to make the Junebug Dress I had recently scene featured in Project Run and Play.

I made a “muslin” dress to get he sizing right. It was a tad too big, but will be perfect for the spring and summer. After making a few  adjustments, I made this version. It came together so well and I loved playing with the plaids. Miss C LOVES it and I am pleased as punch. I can see whipping up half a dozen or so of these for her. I would love to make a long-sleeved version and also one using jersey or interlock instead of a woven cloth.

We are off to enjoy a special birthday brunch at Old Sturbridge Village this morning! Hope you are having a great weekend as well!!