Yesterday I posted about a memory quilt which I saw at a quilt show. Today I would like to share pictures with you of some of the other beautiful quilts that were at the show. I cannot even imagine how many hours of labor and love went into the making of each one of these quilts.

The embroidery on this quilt was beautiful. I wish that my pictures could do these quilts justice!

Just beautiful!

This one made you feel like you were actually looking out of a window.

This one was amazing!

This one made you feel like you were standing in the hallway.

There were also a number of quilted jackets.

This one represented different nationalities in each square.

This was such a beautiful quilt show with so many amazing quilts. Now that I sew I look at these quilts differently because now I understand just how much work and love must go into each quilt. These quilters are amazing!

We took the boys up to the Metroparks for their Discovery Days. It is a hands-on program for the kids to try different things like hand-dipping candles, making playdough and milking a cow. We took the boy to this last month and they had so much fun we came back again this month. It was offered on Martin Luther King Day and President’s Day.

When we went on President’s Day there was a quilt show in the Visitor’s Center so Tom took the boys on a wagon ride while I looked at the quilts. Today I wanted to post about one of the quilts that I saw there. It was a memory quilt made for the quilter’s father-in-law. The quilt was made by a woman and her sister-in-law and each family contributed their ideas for their family’s squares in the quilt.

The word DAD was embroidered into the center square. Surrounding the Dad square were squares from each of the families including the children and grandchildren. It was pretty easy to follow the quilt and see how everyone was related.

There were also pictures printed onto the fabric that showed places that he worked, friends and family.

One of the squares listed the places where he had golfed and apparently had holes-in-one.

According to the write-up next to the quilt, the quilters were new to quilting and had to take classes in order to be able to make the quilt. The quilt was a birthday gift for the father’s 80th birthday. Family members participated with their information and ideas and the quilt became the work of the entire family with some contributing their sewing talent while other contributed their stories and family memories. What a wonderful gift to be able to give someone you love. They can snuggle up with the quilt and keep warm from the warmth of the quilt as well as from the warmth of all of those memories.

Cover with the Kindle Fire inside.

I purchased this pattern from Birdful Stitches on Etsy. This has to be, by far, the easiest pattern to follow. I was able to cut the fabric and make the project in 1 1/2 hours. I would have finished it sooner but I made a mistake that I had to rip out because I wasn’t paying attention.

I was so excited about making this for my Kindle Fire that I received for my birthday. The best part was that this project cost me nothing except the price of the pattern because I was able to find all of the required supplies in my stash.

This is the fabric that I used for my Kindle Fire cover.

The pieces of the pattern were nice and simple straight lines so cutting was easy and quick with my rotary cutter.

I had the batting in my stash but I was concerned about the fusible interfacing as I only had scraps left. Fortunately, I was able to piece together a few of them and I had just enough to cover the required fabric. The assembly was quick and the directions were easy to follow. I made one big mistake though and that was what cost me a lot of time.

Once all of the pieces were sewn I had to assemble them. The directions were clear abougt layering the inner and outer fabrics and then topping with the batting or the fleece. Well, I was thinking of the inner fabric as just the inner lining and forgot to include the pocket sections in the assembly. I had already assembled the pocket section and had placed it off to the side so I ended up forgetting about it. Once I had stitched everything together and turned it right side out I realized that I forgot the pocket piece. I ended up turning it back to wrong side out and then ripping the seam open for half of the cover. I then slid inj the pocket piece and sewing the cover closed again. Ripping the seam took awhile so that added to my time. Once I had ripped out the seam surrounding the spot for the pocket I just place the pocket piece in and re-stitched that section.

I was very happy with how quickly the project could be made up. The pattern that I purchased also came with pattern sizes to fit the various Kindles, the Nook and a pattern for an Ipad. I was very happy about the Ipad pattern being included because my mom received an Ipad for Christmas so I think I will make her a cover for it. (If you are reading this post, Mom, please act surprised when I give the cover to you!) I cannot say enough about how great this pattern was and how simple and straightforward the directions were. There are also pictures for each step. I also purchased the Hipster bag pattern for carrying my Kindle Fire and case. I need to purchase a few supplies for that pattern but I am excited about starting on it real soon!

Inside of empty cover

Cover with the Kindle Fire inside.

Closed cover for the Kindle Fire

This is with the top cover folded behind the Kindle for easier holding and reading.

I found this wonderful idea on Pinterest for a freezer popsicle holder. It is such a simple yet wonderful idea! As soon as I saw it I knew I had to try it.

My boys like those long freezer popsicles that come in that tube of plastic. They also like the Icee Freezer Pops. The problem with eating those popsicles is that their little hands get cold while they are holding them. We usually end up wrapping a paper towel around the popsicle which doesn’t always work because the paper towel gets all wet and starts to fall apart. This little popsicle holder solves those problems for us.

I made it by using a piece of leftover fleece that I had in my stash. The tutorial for this was very good but I tweaked it to work better for us. I needed the holder to be a bit wider. I used a 3 1/2 x 5 inch piece of fleece cut on the fold so that the piece ends up measuring 3 1/2 x 10. I used a rotary cutter to cut the fleece because when I tried to cut it freehand with the pinking shears I did not cut it very straight. I found it easier to make the piece of fabric a bit larger than the tutorial suggests and this allowed me to cut the fabric with a rotary cutter, use my 1/4″ pressing foot and sew the two long sides and the folded end.

The fabric piece on the left is open and the one on the right is folded in half

I then topstitched the holder on the two long sides and the folded bottom side, wrong sides together, and trimmed the seams using pinking shears. This gives the holder a nice finished look.

The holder is stitched on the two long sides and on the fold with a 1/4" seam

Once I had finished the holders and showed them to the boys they were very excited. They thought that the holders were a great idea. I’m glad that they liked them and I hope that this will do away with having to use paper towels all of the time.

Finished freezer pop holder

{This Moment}

{This Moment} – A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by: Soule Mama

If you’re inspired to do the same, leave a link to your ‘moment’ in the comments for all to find and see.

I found this great “I Spy” bag and tutorial on Pinterest.  Pinterest has got to be  the best site!  I wanted to share with you the “I Spy” bag that I made.  You can find the tutorial that I used here.

When I saw this project I thought that it would be a great idea for a nice and quiet game for the kids to play, espeically in the car or in a waiting room.  I used a firefighter themed fleece for my bags.

I used pinking shears when I cut out the centers of the windows. When I used the clear plastic for the window I ended up cutting a slightly larger piece than what was suggested.  I found that the plastic kept slipping on me and I had to rip it out a couple of times and use extra pins.  Between the fleece and the plastic everything slipped more than I realized so it made that part of  the project a bit longer to complete but I finally finished the windows. When I was done sewing in the plastic I just trimmed the edges off of the plastic about 1/8″ before the seam.

Once I had the window of the bag finished I sewed on the back pocket and then I sewed the bag closed, except for a spot for turning it right side out.

The next step is to add the rice. In one bag I used brown rice and the other bag I used pearl barley. It was close to grocery shopping day and I was running low on my white rice so I had to get a bit creative. I have seen online that you can order clear plastic pellets to use as a non-food alternative. The tutorial says to fill the bag up 1/2 way with rice and then add the objects. I filled it up a little better than 1/2 way and it was too much. It made the top stitching very difficult. I ended up sewing into a grain of rice and it broke my needle!

Before I placed the objects to find in the bag I took a picture of them. The tutorial suggests doing this and then getting the picture laminated. This allows the child to use a dry erase marker and check off the items as they find it. I still have to get my picture laminated though.

In the end the bag turned out very cute. I wish that I would have only filled up each bag 1/2 way withthe  rice as the tutorial suggests because, besides making it difficult to topstitch, it almost seems to be too much in the bag. When you first pour the rice in the bag it doesn’t look like much but once the bag is sewn closed and the child uses it, that 1/2 bag filled with rice goes a long way to hide the objects.

I really enjoyed this tutorial and the boys loved their “I Spy” bags. I may make more of these bags yet for gifts. Such a great and simple project!

Has anyone been watching Downton Abbey? I saw a portion of an episode during season 1 but things were busy at home and I just didn’t really have the time to watch the show. When Season 2 started I watched a full episode and was hooked. I mentioned it to my mother and she said that she had watched Season 1 so she filled me in.

I did go to the PBS website to catch-up on Season 1 and I ordered the DVDs from the library. In the meantime, my mother bought me a Kindle Fire for my birthday and it came with a free 30 day trial of Amazon Prime. Fortunately, the Downton Abbey episodes are free on Amazon Prime so I have been catching up on the episodes that I missed. I was so excited because the DVDs at the library have quite a long waiting list.

I don’t know about you but I have totally gotten into this show. When I was a little girl I remember my mother and I watching Upstairs, Downstairs as well as the Wives of Henry VIII on PBS.  We would watch it on our black and white television with the bunny ears antennae on top of it and it still had some snow on the screen. Now, years later, we are still enjoying the PBS shows such as Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and, now, Downton Abbey.  The difference is though that we are watching on color televisions and I’m watching some of the episodes on a Kindle Fire that I can actually hold on my lap. It’s amazing how times and technology have changed!

Anyhow, back to the show, I won’t comment on tonight’s episode in case some of you haven’t seen it yet. I was so glad that Anna and Mr. Bates got married. Mr. Bates just seems like an all around nice guy and Anna is so sweet. I love the cook and Daisy. The cook is just so matter of fact. I was glad that Sybil married the chauffer but Mary and Matthew need to stop playing these games and just admit they want to be together and get married already. I was shocked last week when the Earl was kissing the maid. I like both characters but it just really seemed out of character for them to be starting an affair. I’m glad that they ended that. I totally love the Earl’s mother, Violet, but I think that part of that is because I liked her in the Harry Potter movies.

What I find totally captivating is the lifestyle. It’s just so fun to watch how they would dress for every meal and how proper everything was. I love the dresses and the style. The women’s clothes are so feminine and stylish and the decor of the house is amazingly beautiful. I like how the series portrays life for both the family and the servants. A lot of times we just see and hear about the families that live upstairs but this show really lets you see the lifestyle of the servants also. The housekeeper had to give up marriage and the footmen had to wait a number of years before they were married. It appears that life for the young ladies upstairs was difficult too. They did not have the legal rights to properties and were not always permitted to marry for love. They may have had all of the gorgeous dresses but it doesn’t mean anything if you cannot share it with someone you love. It’s just all very interesting to me and I really like how this show portrays the lifestyles, both the good and the bad.

I know that Season 2 just ended but I am really looking forward to Season 3! What does everyone else think of this show? Is anyone else watching it too?  I would love to hear your thoughts.

I found this tutorial on Pinterest for a car book organizer. Pinterest has to be one of my most favorite websites!

My boys enjoy having toys in the car sometimes, especially if we are going to be driving for a bit. The problem that I find is that there is nowhere to put their toys or books when they are not using them. I had thought about making some type of organizer for the car but then I found this one on Pinterest so I thought I would give it a try. I did make a change or two to the tutorial but that was mostly because I am not very good with sewing on bias tape.

2 pieces of fabric cut to 11×22
1 piece of fusible interfacing or fusible fleece cut to 11×22
4 pieces of fabric cut to 11×13
bias tape, approximately 100 inches
thread
ribbon

I cut out all of my fabric and interfacing first. I used just one pattern of fabric for the entire project but you could mix up the fabric patterns. I used a piece of flannel with trains on it that I had in my stash because I knew the boys would like the trains. You can also adjust the measurements to fit your car or the items that you would be placing in there. I used fusible fleece for the interfacing because I had a lot of it in my stash. I probably would not do the flannel and the fleece together again for this project because it made it a bit thick going through the sewing machine. I would probably just use a cotton fabric next time with the fusible fleece interfacing. The fleece interfacing seemed to make the organizer a bit more sturdy.

I started by ironing the fleece onto the back of the front piece of fabric. I then ironed the pockets in half, wrong sides together, so they were now 11×6.5 inches. Once I had all of the pieces ironed I pinned the first pocket onto the right side of the front piece of fabric about 1 1/2 inches from the top with the raw edges on the bottom and the fold on the top. I stitched the pocket to the front by stitching a line across the raw edge of the pocket with a 1/4″ seam.

I didn’t like just having the raw edge there at the bottom of the pocket, although you wouldn’t really see it since the next pocket would cover it, so I decided to stitch a ribbon over it.

I spaced the rest of the pockets down about 4″ from each other but you could space it however you like depending on what types of items will be in the organizer.

Once the pockets are sewn on you need to place the front piece onto the back piece, wrong sides together, and sew on the bias tape. This was where my project took a turn for the worst. I am not very good at sewing bias tape so I did not enjoy this part of the project and it turned out terrible for me. The one in the tutorial turned out great but I just am not good with the bias tape it would seem. Since I really liked the organizer idea I ended up ripping off all of the bias tape to make it again. The flannel fabric frayed a bit so I had to trim it so my organizer ended up slighly smaller.

What I ended up doing was placing the front and back fabrics right sides together and sewing them together all of the way around with an opening for turning. After I had pinned it I decided to add a piece of webbing to use as a hanger. I unpinned the top of the organizer and pinned the webbing ends to the top with the raw edges matched. I tucked the rest of the webbing inbetween the right sides of the fabric, pinning the front and back pieces of the organizer together and sandwiching the webbing inbetween those two pieces of fabric.

I stitched it all around and then left a small opening for turning. Once I turned it I then top stitched around the entire organizer, closing the opening in the process.

I liked the way that the organizer turned out. It was actually a good thing that I had to make it a bit smaller to fix my bias tape mistake because it just fit inbetween the boys carseats. They are very excited about it because it can hold their coloring books, markers and Mobi-Go games. I may make one or two more of these in a more feminine fabric and have a “mom’s organizer” in the car. I figure that I could use it for items such as snacks, paper, pen, a small knitting project and maybe even a spot for my Kindle. I could also use one in my craft room for my craft supplies too.

I’m so happy with my little organizer and so are my boys. I love creating things for my family that they enjoy.

The other day I was on Pinterest and I found a great idea for making jars of salad. Pinterest is quickly becoming my favorite website!

When I used to work outside the home full-time I had a cup for salad that I would take for lunch and it had a separate holder for the salad dressing. I only had the one cup so I had to make the salad each day. I would have purchased more but those little things were expensive!

I have always liked the salad in a cup idea but I really like the salad in a jar idea that I found on Pinterest becaue you put the salad dressing right into the jar. All you need is a basic mason jar along with your salad ingredients. I already have plenty of mason jars from canning so I did not need to purchase any.

The key to keeping the lettuce crunchy is to keep it as far away from the salad dressing as possible. As the tutorial suggested, I put the salad dressing in first, layered the vegegables on top of the sald dressing and then the final items that I placed in the jar wwere the lettuce and spinach. I put a layer of cucumbers on top of the salad dressing and then a layer of broccoli on top of that. Even though the cucumbers were right on top of the salad dressing they were still good and the layer of broccoli was still crunchy.

I thought that I may have put too many items in the jar but they settled while they sat in the refrigerator. When I was ready to eat the salad I just took the jar out of the refrigerator and shook it real well to coat the salad with the dressing. The greens were nice and crunchy and everything was coated with the salad dressing. I made up six jars of salad and I just grab one out whenever I want one. I used the one pint size and, for me at least, it’s just the right size. It’s working out great!

This past month I participated in a Valentine Exchange at Happy Hour Projects. The participants were put into pairs and we each had to make a handmade, or partially handmade, gift for our partner.

I was paired with E from Act Fast Chef. I enjoyed corresponding with her through email and making her gift. Please stop by and visit her blog as it is full of wonderful recipes, especially the brownies! The Valentine Exchange was a lot of fun. Thank-you to Adrianne at Happy Hour Projects for hosting this gift exchange!

I was so excited when my husband brought in the mail and I saw that I had a package. It’s always so much fun to receive gifts in the mail and I absolutely love this one.

I received a homemade sugar cookie mix in a jar so all I have to do is add a couple of ingredients and I’m done. My boys are looking forward to making the cookies with me and since the dry ingredients are all mixed and measured already my kitchen should hopefully stay somewhat clean. The boys enjoy helping me measure out the ingredients so sometimes my kitchen can look like the bag of flour exploded by the time we are done so the premeasured ingredients are going to be great.

I also received a box of party cookie cutters to use with the cookie dough. The cookie cutters are a birthday cake, cupcake, present and party hat and they are adorable. She also included a bottle of bright pink sprinkles, my favorite color!

The best part of the gift was the hand-embroidered tea towel. She embroidered a cupcake on a tea towel and it is so cute and she did a great job. I don’t know what it is about whimsical cupcake decorations for the kitchen but I just really like them.

Thank you E for the great Valentine’s Day gift and thank you Adrianne for hosting the gift exchange!