So far so good.  I have been focusing on finishing my unfinished projects, at times I get a little overwhelmed, but I re focus and have been getting quite a lot accomplished lately.  Even with the lovely hacking cold going around our family.  Lots has also been happening this last month.  Two of my wonderful children had birthdays. So I was busy with all that fun.  I was able to make a super cute onsie for my now 1 year old. (they grow way too fast!) and outfit to go with it.  I chose a black and gold theme, which was perfect for decorations because all the Christmas stuff was on clearance and I found a lot of gold sparkly stuff on the cheap.  And then I had some twinkling Christmas lights as well. It worked out.

 I finally put the binding on this super cute triangle quilt I made like 2 years ago.  It was just sitting in my craft closet waiting for the binding for 2 years.  It's nuts that I let things sit for so long, but glad to have it done and put to use.  I'm also finished up another baby quilt for a friend on mine. It turned out super cute! I'll be posting about that later.
Some more fun little bit size projects I finished up.  I made scripture bags with CTR ironed on,( Choose the Right) for our primary at church for all the kids. We just bought the bags, and then I used inkjet printable heat transfer vinyl which is awesome!
I embroidered a few blankets I made for a friends and a baby sleeper as well.  I got that baby quilt all sandwiched up and ready to quilt which I will be telling you more about. So excited, isn't it adorable!  My friend is going to love it.  One of my most useful things I made this last month was my chalkboard menu for my fridge.  I think it turned out super cute. Though I need to be better at making a menu. I love the little chickens I added.  We have 4 chickens ( use to have 5 but one just died, sad story).  

But I think one of the funnest things I did was make Valentines cookies with my kiddos.  They are so creative!  My son made a dinosaur one, and one of my girls made a horse one.  Then there were a lot of abstract ones as well.  love it. Hope this inspires you to do what you love and make something unique and awesome too! Happy crafting.

This November I was able to visit the Mecca of all quilting stores , at least in the Midwest. The Missouri Star Quilt Company is based out of Hamilton, Missouri.  I didn't realize how close I was to this luscious quilt store until recently.  So I planned a day trip and I couldn't have been more thrilled.  I discovered MSQ through the many youtube video tutorials they do, in fact they have an app you can now download with all their tutorials right at your fingertips ( it's awesome). Now I love quilts and fabrics and designs of all sorts and my next favorite things are all things rustic and old anything that tells a story.  Old historic buildings (especially old barns) are my favorite!!! So upon my discovery of MSQ I was even more delighted see that they have revamped most of the older buildings in 'downtown' Hamilton, MO.  I love it when something old is brought back to life.  And not only do you get to experience one shop,  you get to experience 12!!!! Yup they all have a different theme of fabric.  You have the main store but then it branches out from there to florals, vintage, kids, holiday, solids, etc!!! They even have a man cave just for those husbands that's get dragged along but don't want to shop for fabric till they drop.  This is seriously and awesome store.   You also earn MSQ points while you shop and each little store.  So many points will translate back to cash in your pocket!   They also have super cute little charms you can earn at each store depending on what you spend.  Fabric, jewelry, rewards?! What didn't they think of?  I felt like all my dreams of owning a store one day had been pulled from my head and was what I was seeing right before my eyes.  So fun and if you are ever close to Hamilton, MO it is so worth the stop.  Can't make it in ?  They have an awesome online store too and catalog!! It's pretty awesome and the coolest thing about it all is it all started with one quilting machine, and a woman who loved to get together with friends and do crafts and sew.  My kind of story😀.  So check out the Missouri Star Quilt Company you won't be disappointed.  

So I started a goal this February to put up two blog posts a month.  Which might not seem like a very big goal but for me it is.  You see as a mother, and wife I wear many hats.  I’m sure a lot of you can relate. Well life has seemed to have gotten in the way of my goal this past month as far as posting my 2 tutorials/month I’ve promised, but don’t worry I have been working on many many projects lately. But this blog post I want to give you a better idea of all the hats I wear and see if you can relate to me.  I am a wife, mother to 3 children and caregiver to another.  I run my own Etsy business which dabbles in fabrics and photography.  I teach piano lessons, I am also the music leader for the children at our church. I am my husbands personal secretary/accountant for our household. I am a home school teacher to my children and participate in a co op, and I also am the Chef that creates most of the family meals. And in the middle of all these roles I am in the process of remolding the house we are living in.  So when life happens I have to put my much loved hobbies to the side and focus on my most important role of all, of mother and wife.  Sometimes it’s hard feeling like I never accomplish what I set out to for the day because my 3 year old is having a bad day and making it worse for everyone around her.  Or when I am playing taxi service to my older kids getting them to and from all the various activities and sporting events. Or when my Husband calls and needs me to do X, Y, and Z for him since he is at work and can’t take care of it. It can be disheartening, and I sometimes I struggle with feeling like I’ve failed in some way when I throw a package of mac and cheese on the stove for dinner.  But back to the reason I am writing about all of this, though it might seem like I am complaining, I’m not.  Because among all this chaos and the challenges I sometimes face in accomplishing my dreams and goals that I have for this blog and website, I’ve realized something, one day I will have all the time in the world to do projects, to blog about them, and have a clean house and be able to talk on the phone uninterrupted by children, but that will be the day my children have grown up and started their own lives.  So all my goals, while worthy to always keep working toward, don’t seem so important.  One of my favorite quotes is,

“ Goals are stars to steer by, not sticks to beat yourself with.” –Barbara B. Smith.

 So bear with me while I try to share my many projects and inspiration, and realize that you are not a lone in feeling overwhelmed, that sometimes it’s worth it to set your many projects aside, and focus on the most important ones like reading to your little ones before they go to bed, and leaving the dishes for another hour to play catch with your kid.  I find that I have started to accomplish more when I make time for the little things that aren’t planned in a day.  They are really what make life worth living, it’s not my to do list I get up every morning for, it’s for my family,for those moments.  “Moments are the molecules that make up eternity.” – Neal A. Maxwell. When ever I need reminded of this I watch this video, it still gets to me.

OK off my soap box,  here is a fun little project I have finally accomplished, it’s been sitting around since Christmas. It only took me 40 minutes from start to finish.  For Christmas I made all my family fleece pj pants, super easy, check out this tutorial if you want to make the pants. You don’t even need a pattern all you need is existing pj pants and these pants take like maybe 30 minutes to put together once you've cut them out. I make my kids pj pants a few sizes bigger than the existing ones so they can wear them all year, till I make some more. I make them every Christmas. But this Christmas it ended up that  I had some left over fleece from the girls pants not sure what to make with it at the time I set it aside. Till now, I decided to make them some snuggly blankets to match their Pj pants, and they turned out awesome!  

p.s. Sorry there aren't any step by step photos but I threw these together so quickly I forgot to take photos along the way, that easy.  But I plan on making more for my other loved ones to snuggle and  read more books so I will update with photos soon.

Supplies 

1 yard or more of 60” wide Anit-pill fleece  (depending on how big your want your blanket)

1 yard or more of 60” minky 

Matching thread

Tools

Scissors

Sewing Machine

*walking foot

*I use a walking foot when sewing with stretchy or bulky fabrics (both in this case) because it makes life sooooo much easier.  It’s not a must but trust me when I say this project isn’t as much fun with out it.

*** I bought two yards of fleece, and was able to get 1 pair of Pj pants and a 40”x 60” cut of fleece for the snuggle blanket top. ***

This tutorial is pretty straight forward, I love the super simple projects because it leaves you feeling like you accomplished a lot, but didn’t spend forever on!  

1.      Lay out your fleece right side up, then place your minky on top of the fleece with the minky right side down.  Now right sides are touching.

2.      Pin all the way around, don’t skimp on the pins, cause fleece and minky like to stretch

3.      Sew all the way around leaving a 6” opening on one side so you can turn the blanket right side out. I used just over ½” seam allowance

4.      Trim excess fabric and clip corner points off

5.      Reach through the 6”and grab the farthest corner and pull it through bringing the right sides out, and poke the corners out. 

6.      Now top stitch all around the blanket, I used a wavy stitch,, tucking in the 6” opening as you top stitch over it

7.      Bam! Blanket done! 

It seems almost to silly to blog about this, I mean who wouldn't think to do this right? But sometimes it’s the simple projects turn out super awesome and I end up loving the most because I get to immediately enjoy it , as do my girls in this case. And it took such little time and effort that I could easily get up and walk away from it and then sit right back down to work on it.  My son and Nephew saw these and are begging me to make them their own snuggle blanket of fleece on minky. I love it so much I  almost love it  more than minky on minky blankets I’ve made.  Even my husband was asking me to make him one.  I think I might have to get some sports fleece and make some football snuggle blankets.  These blankets would be super cute if you had more time and ambition to personalize with embroidery or appliqué .  But for now these work, and if you will excuse me I need to go snuggle under a blanket and read a book with my munchkins.

I'm pretty excited about my tutorial theme for the month.  10" pre-cut squares.  They are so cut, and so much more versital then anyone gives them credit for.  I love pre cuts because I don't have to spend any extra time picking out coordinating fabrics, washing, drying, and then squaring any of it up.  With pre-cuts you can get right to the fun part, putting your project together.  I honestly think they save you more than just time, money as well.  I chose Primrose Garden from Riley Blake Designs, and it comes with eighteen 10" sqaures, if I was going to the fabric store for that many fabrics for a quilt, I think I might break my bank.  Stackers are fairly inexpensive.  You can find some in my etsy shop here, I only have a few left of Primrose Garden.  Well with our further ado, lets find out how to make these super beautiful blocks.

Supplies 

• 10” x 10” Pre-cut squares ( the amount depends on how big you want your quilt to be, I used 18 total        because that is how many came in my stacker pack) 
  
• Matching Thread 
  

Tools 

• Rotary Cutter 
  
• Quilting ruler 
  
• Cutting mat 
  

*Always use 1/4" seam allowance unless otherwise stated*

Cutting 

1. Pair up two 10” squares, stacking one on top of the other. ( these speeds the cutting process up).  Make sure they are lined up perfectly. 
   
   

Piecing the Block 

• Take the 2 1/2" x 5" block and the 5"x5" block and sew them together right sides together making one block out of two. Do for all these size blocks.  Press seams open 
  
  

Squaring Up 

• Time to square up, We are going to make sure our finished block measures 9"x9". 
  
• Line up your block on your cutting mat, get your ruler, measure and cut excess. 
  
• Repeat for all the blocks! 
  
  

And we are done! How easy was that?! We didn't have to go out and find lots of different kids of fabric.  I think that this would be a fun block to make out of fabrics that are left over from your stash.  Stay tuned, I am coming up with a quilt pattern that involves this block and a jelly roll and it is SUPER cute!  Enjoy the rest of February, and stay warm. 

Have many of you have seen the Disney Movie UP?  Isn’t it such a cute sweet movie. Loved it. My favorite parts are usually with the talking dogs.  I think it is because I relate a lot to them.  I totally act like them when it comes to fabric, and crafty things.  You know the part where the dog is talking and then all of a sudden stops and blurts out ‘Squirrel!’.  Yep, that’s me in a fabric or craft store.  This can be problematic when trying to narrow down my selections of fabrics.  But that’s where the fabric industry comes in saving everyone like me a lot of trouble.  They invented these great things called pre cuts!   Love them, they are pre cut stacks or rolls of fabric from individual fabric lines all in one nice and neat ready to sew package.  But then my biggest problem comes down to what do I do with a stack of 10” squares, sew them all together? Boring.  So it was time to switch it up a bit.  And that’s where this tutorial comes in.

No need to cut out squares, already done! Saves me time already, I like it.  Throw some borders around the block and it is an A+ eye catcher.  You friends and family will think you spent hours and days matching up fabric and patterns, and piecing, and it won’t take you more than an afternoon to throw together! Let’s get started on how to piece this block!

Today I am just posting on how to piece these blocks together.  It is up to you how ever you want to finish your quilt, I added borders and sashing, making each block stand alone in all it's glory.

Supplies

1- 20 Block 10” Stacker

                *I Used Country Girls from Riley Blake Designs it had 21 blocks so I didn’t use one block*

Tools

Cutting Mat

Quilting ruler

Rotary cutter

Pins, Thread, Sewing machine

Cutting the Blocks

1.       Before any cutting can commence you first need to open your stacker and admire the fabric. My favorite part J *sigh*. 

2.       Now that you have your squares laid out, you can now pair them together however you want.  One way that helps me is I try to find contrasting colors that look nice together.

3.       Take your first pair of 10” blocks, stacking them on top of one another (saves cutting time) line them up super good and make these cuts starting from the left               Measure over 3” and cut
               Measure over 4” and cut
 Total strips and measurement for 1 block are 2- 3” strips and 1- 4” strip

4.Take the 4” strip from the middle (keep the pair stacked still) and you will make two horizontal cuts starting from the top.

                Measure across 3” and cut

                Measure across 4” and cut.

                Total blocks and measurements left from one 4” strip are 2- 3”x4” blocks, 1- 4”x4” block

5.       Separate all the pieces and put the individual blocks back together like a little puzzle. Now the magic happens, time to switch!

6.       Take the Middle 4”x4” block from one cut up 10” square and swap it with the 4”x4” block from its pair!  

       You just took a simple block and made it beautiful without it being crazy complicated or time consuming.  Repeat this process for the rest of your 10” Block pairs.  Be sure to stack neatly and keep everything together so nothing goes missing.

Piecing the Blocks

7.       Grab one of the cut up blocks, middle already swapped out, and take the 3 middle block pieces and laid them out like I have here.

8.       Take the top 3”x4” block and flip it down onto the 4”x4” block, right sides facing each other.  Pin and sew it together along the top edge using a ¼” seam allowance

                **always use a ¼” seam allowance in quilting unless otherwise noted**

9.       Now take the bottom 3”x4” block and sew it to the bottom edge of the 4”x4” block, flipping it up, right sides facing each other. Pin and sew. ***

10.       Repeat this process for all the middle section blocks. ***

11.       When those are all done take those pieces over to the iron and press the seams on the back open. And you now have the middle section of the block finished.

12.        Find the 2 matching 3” side strips and pin them, one on each side right sides facing together, and sew them to the middle strip. ** Those pieces will be longer and the top and bottom will not match up anymore with the middle this is OK! We will square it all up when we are done.

13. Repeat for all the blocks, then take them to the iron and press the seams out.

14.       Back to the cutting mat, take your ruler and line it up with the top of the middle strip and cut off the excess from the 2 outer strips, making it one nice clean line straight across.

15.       To square up, make sure you measure the length and the width of the pieced block, should now be
    8 ½” x 8 ½”   

Your Finished with all of your blocks! And it only took me about an hour from start to finish.  It is up to you how to finish your quilt.  I decided to add borders but the use of these blocks could be endless.  Sky's the limit, dream big, get creative. Let me know what you DID?!

First I want to give a huge shout out and thank you to everyone that participated in our giveaway! It was so much fun teaming up with Katherine over at Bitty Bugs.  I sure hope everyone who commented or liked us on Facebook, and all the other social media settings will continue to check out what we are up to.  

OK so you want to know who the winner is of my 5" Treasure Map stacker from Riley Blake Designs?  Kristin Coe!  Congrats!  I will be contacting you with a personal message and more info on your awesome prize! Please respond withing 24 hours to claim your prize. As for the circle skirt winner, well you just have to click on over to Bitty Bugs to find out.  And I had so much fun doing a giveaway I just might do something for Christmas!

I promised you one more thing,  I am giving you a sneak peak at the quilt top tutorial I have been working on.  It's super cute, and super easy! Yeah don't you just love cute and easy?!  I do. Have a great day! Do something crafty!  

Finished Quilted Lovey Measures Approx. 30"x 30'


Supplies 

•    Minky  backing 1 1/8 yards 
  

•    2,  5” stackers (total of 36, 5” squares) or 5/8  yard of cotton fabric
  

Tools

•  Ruler, cutting mat, scissors, lots of pins
  

• Thread and sewing machine 
  

•  Walking foot *optional*
  

*** Note, while you do not have to have a walking foot I highly recommend it when sewing with minky.  Minky is a stretchy and a thick fabric and having a walking foot makes life easier.***

Minky Backing

5.  Cut your minky into a 40” x 40” square

6.  Find the center of your Minky square by folding it in half  right sides together and placing a pin on the fold to mark the center on both ends, unfold it and then re-fold it the other direction, placing two more pins in the center line.

7. Do the same thing with the quilt top, find the center for all four sides and pin.
8.  You should now have four center marks on your minky square, and four center marks on your quilt top square.

9. Now place your minky and quilt top, right sides together on top of each other.
 
10.  Line up the center pin for the top of the quilt top with the top of the minky square and pin that center together.

11.  Now pin every inch or so to the end of the quilt top, you will have five inches left un pinned on each side of minky. 

12.Repeat this process for all four sides, When you are done pinning you will have weird looking, floppy corners.

 13.  Before you start sewing the edges together, measure and mark  ¼” in from each quilt top corner

14.  Start sewing in the middle of one of the edges.

15.  When you get to the mark at the corner, backstitch then lift the needle and turn the blanket and reposition it so you are sewing on the seam again,  start again at the dot in the corner,  repeat this process until you are all the way around , stopping about 5-6” from where you began leaving an 5-6” opening.

Making the Mitered Corners


16.  Pull the minky fabric away from the quilt top.  From the corner of the Minky, pull the flap taught and match up the raw edges creating a triangle.

17.  Match up the seams from the quilt top with your ruler, and draw a line across the minky triangle flap you just made. Pin it all in place so nothing moves

18.  Starting from the seam where the two fabrics are joined, sew on the line you just made on the minky to the edge , then trim the excess triangle flap away, leaving about ¼” of fabric.  Do this for all four corners**

* Note- if you are using Minky for the backing there is no need to press the seams in the corners, if you were using a cotton fabric for backing then you should press the seams before turning it.*

Finishing Up


19.   Now that all four corners are mitered and trimmed turn the blanket right side out through your  opening.

20.  Shape the blanket so it all looks nice and pretty with even borders. You might need to poke your finger ir a back of a pen in the corners to make all the fabric come out.  Then pin  the opening and around the rest of the blanket where the quilt top meets the minky. It is time to top stitch along to border!!! Almost finished! And look at those lovely mitered corners!!!! See not so scary :) 

21. I also top stitched/basted around some of the blocks to keep the quilt top together with the minky.  You can do this any way you like.

*You can use a straight stitch, or a decorative stitch, I increase the length of my stitch just a little then the default setting*

Your done!  Now that you know how to make this cute lovey blanket you could easily do this to any blanket you make any size, cottong, knit, minky, have fun and go to town! See I also made one out of Cat and the Hat Minky and dimple minky for some extra snuggle time!   Just make sure that the backing of the blanket is always bigger in length and width.  For example if I was making a top that was 30”x 36” I would want my bottom fabric to be at least 36”x 42” adding 3” for each side (total of 6" added to length and 6" added to width). But you could always add more inches showing more of the back fabric, play around with it, t’s up to you!  Have fun! I would love to see any projects you make!!! Enjoy!

Now for that Giveaway!  If you want to win a handmade super cute twirly girl circle skirt from Bitty Bugs, or a chance to win a 5" Treasure Map Stacker (By: Riley Blake Designs) from me read on!

We are teaming up to help launch our blogs and businesses.  Katherine over at Bitty Bugs is a pretty amazing person and seamstress. She makes the cutest things, and rocks the skills to do so. So what do you have to do to win, it's easy go check out Bitty Bugs Circle Skirt tutorial by Clicking Here and   and Enter Below!

1. After your fabric is washed I find that ironing helps me get my fabric squared up faster and nicer
2. Take your fabric and fold it in half with the selvage edges together
3. Iron it nice and flat and smooth
4. The raw edge where it has been cut won't line up nice and perfect like the selvage edges, that's why we are square it up, so don't about those edges yet. Make sure the selvage edges are lined up perfect.
5. After you have iron out any wrinkle move over to the cutting mat.

6. Place your fabric on the cutting mat, the selvage edges at the top, and the fold of the fabric at the bottom next to you
7. Line up the selvage edge perfectly with a straight line running across the top of you cutting mat
8. Do the same with the bottom folded edge.  You will see that the side edge over hangs a straight line, the overhang will be what is cut off to get a nice straight edge on that raw edge
9. When everything is lined up, take your yard stick and lay it across the fabric raw edge lining it up with the same number/straight line on top as the bottom. 

10. You will be cutting away the excess over hang, make sure you hold the ruler down snug so it doesn't move and mess up your pretty straight line.
11. Cut from selvage edge to fold
12. Bam! You just squared up one side of your fabric, now repeat on the other side. DON'T UNFOLD ANYTHING! We want a perfect square (well rectangle really).  

See not so hard! Now when you make cuts they will measure up perfect! 

Hope this tutorial was helpful! Like us on facebook!  
Thanks,
Lizzy