Potholder Pass

Hello friends!! I've missed you all sooo much!! Hopefully life will slow down some and I will be able to catch up with all of your beautiful creations SOON!! We have been in the process of finding and getting my almost 80 yo MIL into a Nursing Home as well as OTHER things! I haven't had much time for creating, but will hopefully get back to it shortly. In the meantime, I joined Amy's Potholder Pass...and WON!!



Isn't this the SWEETEST potholder EVER?? I LOVE it Amy, thank you! It is perched HIGH above any MESSES that might get too it!! I know you want me to use it, but it is just TOO pretty...and I have threatened my awesome man, so he will not be taking it out to the BBQ pit!! :D I just like looking at...it makes me smile, EVERY time!

I also received my potholder from the VERY talented Karen! With a little "extras"...


The colors are AWESOME, and go with my so-called "theme" very well!! Thanks so much for taking the time to create such beauty for me!!


The little bees are soooo cute! I am not sure if they will be used yet....such prettiness makes me happy and READY for Spring!! Check out Karen's blog Messy Karen..she makes exquisite quilts!


Now for the ones I made!! Amy was smart enough to give me someone without a blog..so she can't say how LATE I am getting these out!! ;) Dawn is a knitter....and OH what CREATIONS!! She does have a flickr pool, check her out!!

Ok, so I've never made potholders before...and thought I bought the recommended Thermolam needed to "insulate" the potholder. So as I was putting the layers together I realized that it was NOT Thermolam, but Fusible FLEECE!! But, I pressed on and put in the TWO layers anyway...on top of what I chose for a backing....***Dawn, this is a SPOILER ALERT***



Yep...terry cloth!! It wasn't too bad, I used a 100/16 quilting needle and only broke ONE!! :D

I LOVE this print!! I hope she likes it as much! I had all kinds of ideas for what to use, but couldn't decide on ANYTHING. Well, I happen to pass by World Market one day and saw they were having a HUGE clearance sale...of course I couldn't resist!! There was a table FULL of table linens, runners and cotton napkins for $1!!!! I fell in LOVE with this print when I saw it and thought they would make PERFECT potholders!! But WHAT to back them with??? Then I remembered that the ones I use MOST in my kitchen are terry cloth. I love using them because they are super absorbent for any messiness I might endure...which is ALOT and quite OFTEN!! So I thought I would give it a try! These are made from two different napkins that I "pieced" together. I was going to quilt it, but ended up only doing a couple of lines following the pieced pattern. Sewing through all of those thick layers was NOT something I really wanted to do...or LEARN free motion quilting with! :D I was also going to bind it with binding I made from the rest of the napkins. Catherine has an AWESOME tutorial on how to do this....which I TOTALLY messed up!! UGH!! Oh well...I think they came out ok, and hope that Dawn likes them. I really enjoyed making these and now have the confidence to try some more! Thank you Amy for including me...YOU ROCK!!

Well...I am off to the Vet today...our little puppy, Peggy is losing her fur and has some "bumps"..I have been neglectful of her and NEED to get this taken care of before it escalates!! YIKES!! Have a good day!! Until later...

Getting Ready for Mardi Gras

Can you BELIEVE that we woke up this morning to THIS!!



And THIS??


See Lisa...I told you everything in my yard is DEAD!! And it is still going strong! But unfortunately, it rained all night so the snow is melting into all of the puddles on the ground. But still..it is pretty AMAZING!! Especially since it was in the 70s LAST WEEK!! Then the rains came, and it got COLD. Needless to say my sinuses are taking a beating. So I haven't been doing too much sewing! But I have been baking! I sent my Awesome Man out the door with this:


This is the third one I've done, so far. It is filled with Bavarian Creme...mmmmm. If you have a breadmaker and are interested in making one to celebrate Mardi Gras, HERE is the recipe I use. I don't remember the Bavarian Creme recipe I used..but I'm sure I googled it! :D

So...a little sewing going on, I am making some of these for the various children in our family. Super simple and tons of fun!




And with two holidays colliding, we've been busy making Valentines for the girls to bring to school...sadly, no pictures. But they had tons of fun embellishing hearts we cut with the Cricut!! And I finally got my desktop computer set up with the Sure Cuts Alot program so I can use the MANY free SVG files offered around blogland! Thank you!!

The Middle Child celebrated Valentine's Day, and then Mardi Gras at her Pre-K this week. She was able to wear the dress I made last year for Valentine's...as a top, but luckily she had a cute pair of red pants with hearts on the knees to pair with it. No picture of that either....yeah, I'm a slacker!! But I did make a new outfit for Mardi Gras...with pictures!!


Just a simple pillowcase style top with a pair of ruffled pants. Here's the action shot!

So, I will be crazy cleaning today since my Momma is coming for the weekend! We have some parades and a surprise party and a run with the chickens this weekend!! Wha-??! you say?? Well check THIS out. We will be in Church Point for the Courier de Mardi Gras...so much fun!! Those Cajuns are CRAZY!! :D So wherever you are HAVE FUN! And if you are venturing out to the Parades this season...bundle up and BE SAFE!! Until later...

From Child's Tote Bag to Child's Apron

First of all...

And Lisa...it is TOTALLY ok for you to root for the other team!! I soooo won't hold it against you!! :D

So anyway, the Middle Child's teacher really liked the aprons I made for the Pre-K class at Christmas, and she asked me to make one for her "kitchen" play area. "Of course!" I said, and I knew the PERFECT thing to use!

This tote bag belonged to Ms. Priss, when she attended Pre-K. This was one of my first sewing experiments. I added a ribbon, using HOT GLUE no less and THEN decided to sew it on!! HA!! On the back was some iron on flowers, and I embroidered her initials!! I've come a-LONG way baby!! Well, it is just lying around not being used..so I thought, "hmmm, it has the PreSchool emblem, why not use this?" So, I picked all of the seams apart and cut out an apron shape. Added a pocket, and some coordinating ribbon to cover up the HOT GLUE debacle...and VIOLA!


I tried to make it non-gender specific, since it will be used by the class. I also kept in mind that it would be used by 3 years olds' and a teacher with not much time to be CONSTANTLY putting an apron on and off all day, so...


I used velcro for all of the openings and closings!! The tote bag hand strap was undone on one side and velco added for an easy neck strap. And instead of using two ribbons for the waist tie, I just used one long one that attaches to the other side for an easy on/off. So easy, a 3 year old can do it!! :D And BTW, the emblem was not stamped on the center of the bag...TOTALLY not my fault that it is a little off!! HA!!

The Middle Child also had Red, White, and Blue day Thursday.

The little top was actually her 2nd birthday dress, that is now shirt length (my how they grow!). So I just whipped up some little ruffle pants for her to wear with it!! I soooo love these pants!! SOOOO EASY!! I am not sure if the top will make it to her 3rd Bday, this July..but the pants will!! :D

Well...I am so behind on my blog reading and I have LOTS to do before Valentine's Day AND Mardi Gras..so I will be trying to catch up a little today!! Don't be upset if I am not commenting...it doesn't mean I don't LOVE you!! It just means that I am ripping through, trying to see what everyone has been up to!! Until later...