Handmade Christmas: Halloween Quilt

We love holidays in my family, and Halloween is one of our favorites! I have been hoarding Halloween fabric for years, and decided I wanted to use some of them this year to make something for my mom. She has downsized her Halloween collection recently, so I wanted something useful and different from what she already has. I made the advent calendar for her last year (that I finished the end of September) and it was a huge hit with the whole family, including my 18 year old brother.

Because I had random fabric, I needed a scrappy pattern. I settled on a traditional Broken Dishes Half Square Triangles pattern, as explained by Any Smart of Diary of a Quilter. I also got some help from a local quilter guru, Flora Gillman. 

Most of my fabric is from yard sales or Joann’s. I had tons of small yardage of Halloween prints, and filled in the plainer colored fabrics with fat quarters. I had to piece the back as well because I bought the whole remaining yardage of this awesome owl fabric, and it was still too small. But, I love the back almost as much as the front. 

I quilted the whole thing by hand using big stitch, or country quilting. It is a running stitch that I did along all of the edges of each triangle. This is my first real quilt, and I am so proud of how It turned out. I might even enter it into a quilt show next summer. Enjoy!

Handmade Christmas: Johnny Cash cross stitch

My younger brother likes to play cowboy and has always loved Johnny Cash. For Christmas this year, I decided to make a cross stitch Johnny Cash for him. 

I located an image on Google that I liked, and made some changes to the background and edges in Photoshop. I then uploaded the image into Stitch Fiddle, a website that allows you to create your own patterns for free. I adjusted it for the size and level of detail that I wanted. The site currently doesn’t allow you to set symbols for different colors, so I couldn’t make a print out. I used the computer and would highlight the color I was working on and change the squares to green as I stitched them. 

It was just over 11,000 stitches in total and about 30 colors. I love how it turned out and that it looks like a photograph from a distance. Enjoy!

We Return with a Halloween Advent Calendar

It’s been over a year since I posted, but I am going to try to post more, even if it’s just simple things.

I just finished my mom’s Christmas present from last year. Its a Monster House Advent Calendar. Pattern by The Sugar House Shop and felt from Benzie Felt. 

I had so much fun making this heirloom, although it was a massive undertaking. The finished piece is 54 inches long and 18 inches wide with 30 handcrafted pieces that attach to the house with magnets.

Will the Birthday Sewing Ever Stop?

This was one of the few outfits that I actually finished in time for Lady Grace’s birthday. It is a two piece vintage style top and pants with rick-rack and button details. I used Simplicity pattern 1813A, which is a resurrected vintage pattern. The fabric is from Joann, and is black with multi-colored hearts, although they are a little difficult to see. This was a simple sew and I will definitely be using the pattern again.

She was eating the bark.

Now she wants to share.

I swear she was trying to pee like a boy in this picture.

Summer Essentials

This summer has been super hot in Utah, so Lady Grace and I wanted to share some of our favorite things that help us get through every day while lounging by the pool and relaxing. Enjoy!

Hat / Book / Swimsuit / Sarong / Bag / Lipstick

Shoes / Leave-in Conditioner / Hat / Sunglasses / Book / Sunblock / Romper

Lady Grace Takes a Walk

Here’s a quick glimpse into what Lady Grace acts like all the time!

Lady Grace is Not a Baby Anymore

Since your first baby only turns one once, we wanted to do a little photo shoot and cake smash before her birthday party. I enlisted C. Zolman Photography to take the pictures. And we love them. Hopefully it will get a little easier in the future because as her Great-Great Grandma Thelma says, “She is like a maggot in hot ashes.” And check back later for details on her party and video proof that sometimes she is a little crazy. Enjoy!

Superhero shelves

One thing that most people know about us is that we love superheroes, comic books, and other nerdy/geeky things. We got our first set of superhero cups as part of our wedding registry. Although I already had some vintage DC cups long before we were married. We have continued to accumulate more since then, and have more than 20 now.

I knew that I wanted to display them , but was unwilling to spend a lot on shelving that I didn’t particularly love. So, we built our own. We followed this basic tutorial (even though it’s for a doll house). After it was built, we painted the inside white, covered the sides with comic books pictures and Mod Podge, and painted the front edges yellow.

I love the way it turned out. The only real problem is the yellow clashes slightly with our tan walls, but I plan on having a white kitchen one day, so then it won’t matter.

We will need to get some more DC cups so it doesn’t look so lopsided, but for now, we are enjoying what we have.

Paperbag Skirts for Lady Grace

One of my goals for the year is to complete all of the projects that I currently have in process. Although most of these projects are book related, there are a few more personal ones. You will probably see a number of posts related to these projects in the coming weeks.

One of the bigger projects is reducing my fabric stash/sewing clothes for Lady Grace. Since moving back to Utah, I have realized that I have lots of fabric, and it is better in use than in a box. And these skirts are an example.

At Christmas, I made stockings for our family and my brother and sister-in-law. I had some extra fabric and wanted to make some nerdy skirts with it. I also wanted to try making a paper bag skirt.

I used this tutorial from Simple Simon and Co. It was so quick and easy to sew up. The first one probably took about 45 minutes to see and the second one only 30 minutes. Each skirt only needed 1/4 yard of fabric, but I will need more in the future.

Lady Grace is slightly small for her age (read tall and lean), so I loved that I could customize the size to fit her height and weight. There will probably be more of these skirts in the future.

And she seems to like them. Both fabrics are from Joanns.