DIY

About one month ago I posted  “works in progress” in my DIY world.  I’ve been very busy so I thought I’d do a quick update.

I went to Houston for four days to visit friends.  Here’s me finally using the carry on I made several months ago.

I made and gave out three sets of tea towels as hostess gifts.

Mermaid Tea Towels

 Tea Towels with Moda Fabrics and Flower Appliques

 Nautical Tea Towels

 Made some very Girly Blankets for a few of our Best Friends

 And moved forward a bit on the “Heart of my Heart” quilt for Piper.

Finally watched “Frozen” and I’m ready to make some Elsa dresses.  But, just wondering, why do all three granddaughters want to be Elsa?  What’s wrong with Anna?  She’s adorable!  And she has red hair–just like Kendall!

Also designed a new bag at Jessica’s request.  I’ll make it one more time and then post the tutorial. 

Cut out Tyson’s baby quilt.  Looking forward to putting it all together.  It will be totally adorable. 

I’m adding some pops of color to the screened room on our deck.  Already made the Hello! pillow and I’ve added a few more easy peasy pillows.  I probably have enough extra fabric from the those pillows to make a seat cushion or two.  (Why don’t I ever buy the right amount of fabric no matter how much I plan?)  And I’m starting the design for a new mosaic pot. 

I’ve totally been obsessed with “modern” quilts lately–just big blocks of color that are simply quilted.  Jes brought her Domino magazine here and I’m in love with Hopewell Quilts.  I pulled this one off of Pinterest.  I love the simple colors and the pin-striped binding. In the magazine the back looked like plain old blue chambray.  I loved everything about it but the price.  So I may need to make something like this for myself. 

And speaking of Domino, they recently listed the, 17 Best DIY Blogs.  I haven’t actually looked at all of them yet, but so far I really like Vintage Revivals.  I’m like “oooooh, I want to make that”. 

Well, gotta get to work.  All this DIYing isn’t going to get done with me sitting at a keyboard!

I’m a sucker for dogs and cats and small children.  Since Terry and I have agreed we will have no more of any of the above, I dote on all that I come across whenever possible.

Here’s Lexie when she was a puppy…

Lexie really liked Maggie’s favorite fluffly blanket so I told her that I would make her one.  And she said, “pink, please”.

When I knew I was going to Texas to visit Lexie, I decided I better get that blanket made.  Otherwise she would probably bite me.  With her little tiny teeth.  But I couldn’t find faux fur in pink. 

So I picked it up in white.

 and thought I had enough pink Minky at home to line it with and it might make Lexie happy.  With a bit of piecing, I had a nice cushy pink dog blanket.   

 And I probably should have kept it for my granddaughters.  Seriously, it was that nice.  And easy peasy.  I just cut the minky to fit and sewed everything wrong sides together with 1/4″ seams–leaving a small opening to turn it.  Turned right side out, then stitched the opening.

But it went to Lexie who jumped up and pulled it out of my hand when I walked in the door!  Really, she did!

Lexie even sent me this “thank you” picture this week.

And then there’s Mattie the Cattie who used to live in DC then moved to Wilmington, Delaware, and then to Manhattan and then to Brooklyn and back to DC.  Big City Kitty.  She’s a special cat and she loved to sleep on the cable box but during the last move, no cable box.  No warm nap time.  So I also promised her a new blanket.  Or a cover for a cushion.  

Pulled out the rest of the faux fur and minky from my stash.  And Mattie now has a blanket. I left one end open in case she might want to hide inside or her people might want to put a cushion in it.  

Mattie wasn’t quite as excited about her new blankey as Lexie was.  After all, it was 96 degrees in DC that day!

And regarding those small children that I dote on.  Gotta get to work on the “Elsa” dresses, I’ve got three adorable granddaughters that are big fans of “Frozen”.