Sew Night with Kass - bean bags

Last week Kass & I were in charge of bringing beanbags to a church function. We decided to make some on sew night...I decided it was a good time for her to learn a few techniques (shortcuts) on piecing quilt blocks....so we did both at the same time and make the beanbags out of quilt blocks.

On this block, I taught her to make half square triangles by cutting 4 green squares & 4 polka dot squares the same size. (by the way...I do ALL of the rotary cutting) We marked a line from corner to corner and Kass stitched on the line. Then she trimmed about 1/4" past her stitching line...the other half was discarded (over her shoulder, lol) after trimming and pressing, she had 4 easy& accurate half square triangles. The rest of the block was easy to put together...after a lesson in accurate 1/4" seam allowance.

The next lesson for this block was learning an easy way to do the flying geese in this star . I showed her a method I have used for years called "fast flying geese"...it involves making 4 flying geese at a time and marking lines to stitch on. I could do a tutorial if anyone is interested....it's the only way that I like to make them.

We just used regular beans to fill them...nothing fancy!

More half square triangle method for the pinwheels. Kass really liked this block and was amazed at how easy it went together....she likes stitching on a marked line....so easy peasy and no 1/4" seam allowance to worry about until the 4 pinwheels go together.

The finished beanbags....so proud...she made 4 of them.

I need to add that she chose the fabric from her stash and decided which ones would go together. We have a lesson on choosing fabric every sew night and I must say that I think she does a great job and has a good eye for color.

Like her Mom, choosing the fabric is her favorite part of the process!

First she chose the back of each beanbag and then picked the front fabrics to match.

Below is a closer look at all 4 beanbags.

The 16 patch was quick and easy.....this block was the 1/4" seam allowance lesson.

She used them for the church party....she needed to have a game for the very little kids to play so she took her hula hoops, laid them on the floor (quite a ways from the kids) and challenged them to throw the bean bags inside of the hoops. Candy was given out for each one they got in the circles.

A worthwhile project and now she has the beanbags to use at home or at another party another time!

Vintage Monday - Toy Stove

I bought this cute Wolverine toy stove at an antique shop in Logan when I went on my quilting retreat.
As you know, I collect what I love and I also like to use what I collect and this fits right into my kitchen next to my sink like it's been there for years. Now it's a handy little helper and looks vintagey cute!
Serena over at the Farm Chicks is so inspiring and does the same thing. I love it when I can find inspiration from others and I hope others can find inspiration from me.

After finding the stove, I went on a hunt to find a childs saucepan to go on the burners. I really wanted to find one with a red handle so I searched until I did!
I love the one that I found, small enough to look cute on the stove but large enough to hold a sponge and scrubber.

When I saw this cut glass mini set of S&P shakers, I knew they would also look adorable on the stove...tiny red lids....how fun.

I already had this apron on my dish soap next to my sink....now she sits next to the stove.

This apron is part of a pattern I designed about 10 years ago called Cleaning Cuties.

I'm thinking maybe it's time to release it for sale again....what do you think?

I knitted these dishcloths a while back and I thought they would roll up just right and fit inside the oven.

These cloths are a fast, fun and useful project when you feel the need to pick up the needles!

These are the sponges that I like to use....O-Cello....they fit nicely in my hand and I like the colors .........

and the cute prints on the scrubby side. My motto is,

"if you buy something useful, it doesn't mean it can't be cute!"

That motto also works for my collection of all things vintage only switched around,

"if you buy something cute, it doesn't mean it can't be useful!"

Halloween Fun....

Yesterday was full of Halloween family fun for me....first of all, Kassidy and I went to lunch with my Grandma, my Mom, my sisters and my niece.

When we got home Kassidy put on her costume.........and hooked up with a few of her friends to do some "trick or treating"......

This is how they looked when they came home.....tired, but still happy!

Here's Sterling and a couple of his friends after they had made the neighborhood rounds a few times......he looks pretty calm in this picture but trust me....they were bouncing off the walls from all of that sugar!

Mr. Honey did the usual Halloween thing. He passed out candy to all the trick or treaters who came to our door.....while playing scary loud music on his electric guitar. He does that on every Halloween.....and he also gets alot of encores from the kids!

Our son Ben and our DIL Nicky came over to spend the evening with us and of course they brought our grandaughter Sophie Belle the little cowgirl!

Yee-haw! What a cutie..........

She is just so much fun to have around ....she made us all laugh. She looked so cute and funny in her Halloween get up.

This is Ben and Nicky with Sophie and thier dog Spike....they brought him to join in the fun too.

Some peoples kids never grow out of Halloween fun........

and some peoples cute DIL's don't either....LOL...isn't Nicky adorable?

At the end of the night, Mr. Honey traded his guitar playing for playing with Sophie......

She loves her Grandpa!

Well.....that was the buzz at our Hive on Halloween.

Good times with friends and family.

This week.......

I've been doing a little bit of everything.....some holiday papercrafting.............

some apple picking...........

our apples needed to come off the trees.......before the hard frost comes in.

some applique..............

These are the new blocks going in my Family Reunion quilt.........

I don't know about you, but we usually had our Family Reunions in the canyon and it was a standing rule that the first one there was in charge of hanging the "paper plate sign" to show the way to the other family members.

My brothers and sisters and I always looked for our family name among the many signs nailed to several posts along the way, as our station wagon wound it's way further up the canyon.

another word block I've added to the quilt that describes family.......LOVE

Corn on the cob to add to the picnic.....ready to eat......eating..... and eaten!

Of course you must use those fun little cob holders so you're fingers don't get burned....

My studio is full of drawings.... patterns.... fabric...paper...glitter ....glue and whatever else that I've stacked in there.... What a mess!

I seriously should take an afternoon to put everything away but I'm busy!

The holiday crafting begins just as the holiday decorating begins.

It's ongoing at my house throughout the season. I took a class at Heartland Paper this week with my friends Shanna and Beth. We had a ball! The top photo was taken there....so cute.

I hope you'all are getting ready for a trick or treating weekend......

Sew Night with Kassidy - bookmarks

Kassidy wanted to make some bookmarks for her friends...on our "Sew Night" last Wednesday, she went through her basket of fabrics that she has been collecting and chose some fun prints that she thought would make cute bookmarks. This is a great way to make use out of leftover 2 1/2" strips or try using leftovers from a favorite jelly roll project.
if you want to make some, this is how we did it....
You will also need
pinking shears,
Pellon that is fusible on one side,
Ribbon to match fabric.

You will use 2 fabrics , one for the front of the bookmark and one for the back and 2 pieces of pellon for each bookmark. Cut them all 2 1/2" x 7" long.
Also cut wider ribbon about 3" long and narrow ribbon 2 1/2" long.

Press the pellon onto the wrong side of both the front and the back of bookmark fabric.

Place them Pellon sides together.

Trim the TOP ONLY of the front and back of bookmark while sandwiched. Trim with pinking shears. You will only be able to do this step now before you insert ribbon between them and before stitching edges.

Layer the narrow ribbon on the wider ribbon with the bottom edges even. Center ribbon layers about 1" down on the pellon side of bookmark back.

Place the bookmark front over ribbon and bookmark back and pin into place. Make sure that your pin goes through the ribbon to hold it into place while stitching.

Also pin the back and front of bookmark together at the bottom.

Here is Kassidy stitching the front and back together....she used the edge of the zipper foot as a guide for her seam allowance which is slightly larger than 1/4".

This is what the front looks like when stitching is complete.

This is the back.

Now trim the remaining three edges of the bookmark with pinking shears.

Fabric all trimmed .....

Now trim the ribbon.......

Bookmark complete! Easy peasy...fast & fun...what's not to like?

A cute gift for all. Tuck inside a fabulous book or even coordinate fabric to go with the book style or content....

Here are the bookmarks that Kassidy made .....she made 2 out of each fabric combo for a total of 10.

The following pics are the back and front of each bookmark.

Kassidy and I hope you have fun on your "Sew Night" with these quick little bookmarks....... if you decide to give them a whirl!

Today at Yo-Yo Mama's...

I met with my Yo-Yo Mama's group today at Material Girls...I decided to make a little nifty-gifty for everyone.

I had fun making all of them bookmarks.....

so that we can all keep track of which block we are working on in our latest project that we are doing together as a group.....

Our group is a 1930's group so naturally we decided to do the sampler quilt from Eleanor Burn's book, "Egg Money Quilts".

We all love this book and Eleanor's aproach to fast & easy methods to make traditional blocks that were typically made during the depression years. We also LOVE the DVD that she has made to go along with it...very entertaining I must say with alot of cute projects. I recommend it for those of you who enjoy 1930's quilts and fabrics.

Here's a closeup of a few of the bookmarks....

And the other side of them.

This is the last project that we did together....my "Apron Club" quilt. This is Judy's that she just finished......

Look at the cute fabric that she used for her backing fabric.

The following blocks are Shanna's. She has a few more to do and then she's ready to put hers together.

Nadine brought a vintage quilt top that she just purchased online to show us.....a grandmothers flower garden. What a lucky find for her...it's such a wonderful quilt top.

Ashley has now joined our group and brought a whirly-gig quilt that she is working on now....only borders needed. She is adorable and will be a fun addition to our group.

Well, there you have it, that was this months yo-yo mama's meeting. I hope you enjoyed being my special guest visitor!