I've been gone a while...

This is a doll quilt I made for Kaiya.  All of the pieces are fabrics/scraps that were handed down by loved ones or family friends.  Most are vintage fabrics that I have been holding on to, bound and determined to use the smallest piece.  It's about the size of a placemat and fits in her newly revamped antique baby doll crib. ( Thanks Ronna and Grammy). 

    

Here's the view of the back.  Kaiya waited impatiently for me to finish and immediately took it and wrapped up her pony baby yelling "this one's mine and I love it."

 Cool. I have two more little girlies in my life to make these for. I still have a cake pan filled with these 1 3/4 inch half triangle squares ready to sew up.

This is the "Hanna quilt"  I made for a friend's new daughter.  ( If you're reading this, feign surprise :^)).  I started this a while back and described it here.  I put it off  as I couldn't deside on how I wanted to quilt it. 

 I finally sat down and realized I was over thinking the design and just went for it, jumping in with both feet. K(eep) I(t)S(imple)S(tupid) right?   I am very happy with the outcome.  The back is a Beatrix Potter which my friend absolutely loves.

I have been holding onto hoarding fabric, waiting for that " special project".  I have a million "special projects" rolling around in my head and various notebooks around the house and not nearly the time to do them all or hold onto this stuff when the time finally comes.  I'm certainly not enjoying it if it's boxed up in a closet.  I made the declaration last March  that I  was going to use  scraps for my projects and that I was also on a buying freeze.  I finally decided that a new 8 foot round toothbrush rug for my dining room was special enough.  I went through my scrap bags and upcycled sheets from the thrift store I had packed away in my closet and cut it all up into  2 inch width strips and started weaving. 

I generally clean off my kitchen table and hoist it up working on a couple of rows at a time between projects and well...life. It is slow going so when I get sick of it I tuck the tails up under it and toss it on the floor until the next time.  It's been interesting watching it grow.  So far it it contains 2 full flat sheets, 1 full fitted sheet, 1 queen flat sheet and about 9 yards of fabric and is almost 5'.

 

The other two quilts I've been trying to finish up are the scrappy star string quilt and the paintbox quilt. Both are in various stages of completion.  I can smile and say it's a little bit further than a month ago.  I may very well end up using the star quilt  as a wall hanging .  I really find it visually pleasing and it will go beatifully  with my new rug.  :)

I've been really trying to stay focused and do a little bit each day getting the kids more involved in crafts and less t.v especially since we are in the first full week of the new school year.  We've had the cable off for almost two months and rely on monitered Netflix or Hulu and are doing well without most of it.  Not having commercials has definitely made a difference in how the kids act.  I really can't wait to load up the table with all the crafts soon, and letting the kids just dig in with wild abandon.  We're almost there.

Take care. 

Kendra